Children of the Chamber
by xseriouslyx
Summary: Post PP. Danny, his family and friends happily move on with life. Isolated, infamous Vlad Masters makes a last ditch attempt to make his life worth living. Realising how alone he is, he discovers that he still has one more shot to attempt to create his half-ghost clone. But how will he ensure he doesn't get found out? Is mixing his DNA with Danny's wise? Full/better summary inside.
1. Gains and Losses

**Hi everyone, I'm baacckk!**

 **((and I still don't own the rights to Danny Phantom :( :( ))**

 **Okay, so this fanfic was inspired by a video created by Butch Hartman himself,** _ **'Danny Phantom 10 Years Later PART 2'.**_ **Check it out, it's a really cool video. One of the drawings Butch created was of Vlad 10 years later and with him was a cloned child, whom Vlad had finally been successful in creating, and was made up of both Danny's and Vlad's DNA.**

 **Now guys I will not lie to you…see the whole cloning business, the episodes with Danielle, uh uh! They did not do it for me, I was not keen on that aspect of the storyline AT ALL (Please don't hate)! Which is why it really shocked me when I watched that video and seen that picture, and I actually liked the idea of Vlad with this cloned kid. Next thing I knew, all these different scenarios and ideas went through my head and I thought screw it! Gonna write this stuff down!**

 **So that's a little background info as to what inspired the story you are about to read. This first chapter kick starts the whole plot, so although in some places you may think, 'I already know that', or 'duh!' Please bear with me, it works up to the good stuff!**

 **Hope you like!**

 **()()()**

Similar to many of the previous disasters and ghost attacks which the people of Amity Park had been subjected to; after the events regarding the apocalyptic Disasteroid the citizens soon relaxed back into their comfortable way of life. True, there were now a couple of new changes to become accustomed to, such as Tucker Foley leading the town as the youngest mayor known to Amity Park, with support of other trustworthy government officials.

Although a huge responsibility to task upon a fourteen year old boy, Tucker appeared to take it in his usual stride. True, many did have their doubts about electing him as mayor, but Tucker's courageous and knowledgeable contribution in saving the world from the Disasteroid did not go unnoticed.

Amity Park also turned a more positive outlook on their very own ghost boy, Danny Phantom, who was now also known and accepted by all as Danny Fenton. The town vowed to be forever grateful of his heroic actions. Naturally Danny remained humble about what he felt was his duty, he took more happiness in knowing that he no longer had to keep his ghost half a secret and the ones he loved the most still loved and accepted him.

So life went on in Amity Park, with so much to be celebrating, mainly to be enabled to go on living, they quickly forgot about the sole individual who had put them in mortal danger; Vlad Plasmius. Or as they had previously known him as Vlad Masters, their previous mayor.

Few actually knew what became of Vlad's whereabouts when it was discovered he could not stop the Disasteroid. Jack Fenton only admitted to his family that he had left his ex-friend in outer space. He didn't want to make it public knowledge that he had done such a thing, for although at the time he couldn't bear the thought of speaking another word to the evil man, he later felt it had actually been a spiteful thing to do, and perhaps lacked justice.

Of course, no one else who knew of Jack's decision felt it had been too harsh. Maddie Fenton even made a point of thinking Vlad got of too lightly. "Whatever happens to him now will be too good for him!" She'd said, "If I ever lay eyes on that sleazy creep again it will be too soon!"

Jazz, Sam and Tucker were of a similar opinion. Jazz felt that he had become too narcissistic to be of any benefit to anyone other than himself. Sam and Tucker simply thought he was evil and his actions had proved it time and time again, and what use did Amity Park have for an evil person?

Dani had mixed feelings about Vlad's disappearance. She was now a regular visitor at the Fenton's home and was made to feel most welcome by the family. At first, Jack, Maddie and Jazz had been horrified to find out that Vlad had been crazy enough to clone Danny. Not believing it were possible, this had lessened their view of Vlad Masters even further, thinking it a sick and unethical attempt. However, they never made these feelings known to Dani. Upon meeting her they accepted that the origins of her creation was not her fault, and felt that she was more than deserving of a place in the Fenton's home. Though being a free-spirit Dani liked to come and go as she pleased, exploring the world as she went.

Given that Vlad was the first person she ever knew, and that in an untraditional way he was technically her 'father,' Dani still wanted to believe there was a small glimmer of good in Vlad. Although it hurt her when he didn't accept her, it would hurt her even more to think that the man who brought her into this world was pure evil. For what would that make her?

With this in mind, Dani chose to keep these feelings to herself. After all, she still needed to make friends and fit in. Therefore she would verbally agree with the others that Vlad was mere scum.

That left Danny. His hatred for Vlad Masters was probably the purest. He had seen and experienced the evil which Vlad was capable of, the man seemingly becoming more malice and crazy with each encounter. Danny's one regret was allowing Vlad to remain in control of Amity Park for so long as mayor, he felt he should have intervened sooner. Then maybe Amity Park wouldn't have suffered as much under his power.

Danny also hated the fact that Vlad had now vanished with no trace. The last encounter between Vlad and Danny had been unpleasant, and Vlad had got the upper hand in it. Danny felt he'd never really beaten Vlad Plasmius. He knew the half ghost's strengths and abilities, and he refused to believe that the man had perished in outer space. Danny still had a sickening hunch that Vlad was still out there somewhere, plotting his return and revenge.

Naturally, when you're a fourteen year old hero, thoughts like these go to the back of your mind. Danny chose to also try and forget about Vlad Masters and remain a positive character, for the sake of his family, friends and town.

 **()()()**

Unknown to everyone in the world, after being struck by the Disasteroid whilst contemplating being stuck in space, Vlad felt certain he would die. The injuries caused to him from the hit had threatened his ability to stay in ghost form, and without oxygen Vlad would last only seconds if he turned human whilst in space. So Vlad had to battle with himself to keep his black transformation rings at bay. Although in truthfulness, he had contemplated 'giving up the ghost' and simply ending his miserable existence, believing there was really nothing left for him now.

Whilst having this internal battle with himself, Vlad suddenly noticed a bright green light appear metres in front of him, and within seconds it expanded and seemed to almost create a tear in the atmosphere. Vlad widened his eyes in disbelief. It was a portal into the Ghost Zone. Like Danny, Vlad had been aware that natural portals can sporadically appear at any given time, but to have one appear in outer space?

Vlad saw his opportunity to escape from space, and took it. He made it through the portal seconds before it closed.

Once inside the Ghost Zone, thoughts of death quickly evaded from his mind. He now had the opportunity to live out his life, but at what cost? He wasn't sure he had allies in the Ghost Zone anymore. Were they aware of his actions? If they were the ghosts would no doubt be as ruthless as the humans and would mercilessly hunt him down. That wasn't a chance Vlad was willing to take.

So what choice did he have?

He couldn't go to his home in Amity Park, it was much too risky. He doubted he would ever set foot there again. He never did repair his castle in Wisconsin after he became mayor, not that he would have been much safer there.

That left his secluded luxurious cabin out in the woods near Colorado. No one lived near there, it was unlikely he would be bothered. However the cabin did need repairing. Vlad shuddered when he thought back to when he was last in that cabin. Danny and Danielle had destroyed his hopes of ever creating his own half ghost apprentice.

It sickened him to his very core.

Vlad desperately wanted to avoid that cabin, avoid facing those memories and realities. However he had nowhere else to go. He needed a safe place to recover and work out a plan of action.

So Vlad swiftly made haste on locating another portal and getting himself to Colorado where he desperately needed rest.

 **()()()**

"Mr Lancer, may I please be excused?"

Mr Lancer immediately stopped writing on the board and turned around with a raised eyebrow.

"What is it this time, Mr Fenton?"

"WHO DARES CHANGE THE MENU?" Screamed a demented female voice, followed by the screams of innocent cafeteria workers.

"Uh, that." Danny replied dryly.

"Sam, you didn't try to pull the whole vegan thing again did you?" Tucker asked his friend.

"She better not have!" Dash shouted angrily from the back of the room.

"Yeah, us athletes need our protein to perform well on the field." Kwan added.

Sam folded her arms and scowled irritably at the accusations. "I didn't do anything!"

"Grapes of Wrath people calm down there's a ghost on the loose!" Shouted Mr Lancer glancing at the one student who could resolve this. Danny was already holding a Fenton Thermos and waiting for the go ahead from his teacher. Not that he had done this before everyone knew his secret, but it was merely out of respect. Someone in the school had to show Mr Lancer some respect, right?

"Danny you're excused."

"Goin' ghost!" Danny cried as he instantly transformed and flew out the door.

His classmates stared in amazement and cheered.

"Yay! Go Danny!" Paulina cheered in an overly chirpy tone.

Sam shuddered slightly at the cheerleader's reaction to her boyfriend's heroic action.

"Uh! I don't think I'll ever get used to that." She grumbled to herself.

"You're telling me." A voice said from behind her, "Weird."

Sam turned around, and raised an eyebrow at Valerie. She was tempted to make a harsh remake and ask Valerie if she wanted to go help Danny, or to get in his way by hunting him. But she bit her tongue, and turned back around not commenting at all.

Tucker noticed this small interaction, or lack of, between the two girls. But he knew better than to interfere.

Sam and Valerie still didn't see eye to eye, Sam wasn't sure if she wanted to either. She still felt that Valerie had some shallow traits from the time when she hung around with the popular kids. But she wasn't sure if she disliked her more for formerly hitting out at Danny when he was in ghost form, or hitting on him when he wasn't. Either way, Sam preferred to keep their interactions minimal.

A few minutes later a human Danny walked through the door, slightly breathless and holding a thermos. He gave a small smile to his eagerly awaiting classmates.

"Lunch will proceed as normal today." He informed them lightly as he took his seat, "Hope you guys like fish sticks."

"But it's supposed to be sloppy joe day!" Nathan loudly whined.

"So I've been told!" Danny mumbled as he stuffed the Fenton Thermos into his backpack.

"Danny is it hard to fight ghosts?" Kwan asked.

"Yeah, and how do you make your hands glow?" Star added.

"Who designed your cute costume?" Paulina gushed.

"Does it tingle when you fly through walls?"

"Do you teach classes on ghost fighting?

"If I stand in front of the microwave with a hairdryer will I get ghost powers too?"

Danny looked around at all of his classmates who were bombarding him with questions. This was the one aspect of revealing his secret which he didn't like.

Tucker, Sam and Valerie each gave him a sympathetic look as he uncomfortably hunched his shoulders and looked at his desk whilst the questions continued to be fired at him. It was Mr Lancer who got the class of teenagers to be quiet and leave Danny alone.

"That's enough people. Chitchat is for lunch time, this his class time." He reminded his students. "Now saying as you are all so interested in ghosts, I'd like to turn your attention back to Macbeth, who thinks he's seeing them."

As the class quietened down Danny gave a small sigh of relief, and a small smile of thanks to his teacher. Ever since Mr Lancer had learned of Danny's secret he'd been much more understanding and considerate. Before, Mr Lancer had assumed Danny had been ditching class and slacking in his work because he had no interest in learning. Now, however, he had a lot of respect for what the young boy did and was happy to help out with his school work in any way possible. Even if it meant getting curious teenagers off his back.

As Danny tried to refocus his mind back to Macbeth, he also tried to convince himself that things would become normal again soon. It was still early days, maybe everyone still needed more time to accept who he was and what he did. But most of all Danny hoped that they would still remember who he was, and that was more than just 'the ghost boy.'

 **()()()**

Whilst Danny had been coming to terms with being a somewhat celebrity, Vlad had begun picking up the pieces of his shattered life. He had successfully made it to his secluded cabin in Colorado. It had been a risky and tiresome journey, Vlad had to constantly check himself and his surroundings to decrease the chances of being spotted by man or ghost. The halfa also had to rest more often than he was used to, clearly the events in space had taken a larger toll than he'd first anticipated, causing a slower recovery. Vlad kept telling himself that the shelter and safety the cabin would provide would be worth the tribulation.

However this small consolation didn't make up for the state the cabin was in. It was worse than he'd remembered. It was evidentially clear that no one had been there in months, Vlad had more or less abandoned it after his attempt to clone Danny, and never did clear up the debris or see to repairs from the damage caused by the fight.

Despite knowing nothing good could come from his curiosity, Vlad couldn't settle himself with simply utilising the the living quarters of the cabin. Within less than an hour of arrival, he'd gone into the lab where he had previously conducted all of his clone experiments.

Vlad felt his heart sink instantly as soon as he stepped foot in the room. He inspected all the equipment and all the tools which had been necessary, bitterly reminding him that it had all been for nothing.

Vlad sighed in anguish. Everything was broken, destroyed because Danny and his friends had interfered. Not forgetting Danielle's betrayal, if she hadn't been so weak minded and easily led by Danny his chances of succession were almost guaranteed.

Vlad's face twitched in anger as he thought about the clone which had dissolved during the fight.

"I'd been so close!" Vlad muttered through gritted teeth.

And he had been. He merely needed that final piece of Danny's DNA and the clone would have stabilized if properly attended to. What stung Vlad the most was that Danny and Danielle didn't seem to realise what they had robbed him of that day, how much it hurt to see that clone, who at that stage was really more of a boy than an experiment, vanish before him. To see how he'd reached out to Vlad before he did…

Vlad cringed at the memory. That had been painful. It angered Vlad because Danny had protected Danielle due to the fact that she had a mind of her own. What the boy hadn't realised was that the clone in process also would have had a mind of his own. Vlad already knew how to achieve that, he'd done so when he'd created Dani.

But Danny just couldn't let him have that. Vlad knew that Danny was stubborn, that was partly the reason why he wouldn't join him. And begrudgingly, Vlad had grown to accept this. Which was why he'd started the cloning process. Although after that incident Vlad realised that as well as not wanting to train under Vlad, it appeared that Danny didn't want Vlad to be happy either. That clone would have made him happy, Vlad was sure of it, and Danny robbed him of that happiness. He would have gladly left the boy alone after that, but things just got worse from there.

Vlad knew the cloning was the real turning point. It was the stage of desperation. He decided after that that if he couldn't have what he wanted, he would have everything else.

But that didn't work out the way he'd planned either. His rising into politics only proved to be his downfall, stopped at every turn by Danny and his friends of ever ruling more than simple Amity Park.

Vlad's anger only continued to rise as he wondered through the busted up lab. He cursed Danny Phantom, Jack Fenton, his so-called daughter Dani, everyone he could think of who'd done him wrong.

But soon his anger turned to sadness.

"All I want is what everybody needs." Vlad muttered spitefully to himself.

 _Love_.

"Am I such a despicable person that I don't even deserve that?"

Vlad knew what the answer would be from every person he'd ever met. Not that he even cared about any of them anymore, which is why he longed for the clone to be successful, someone he could create and mould. Someone who would grow to appreciate, respect and love him.

Danny hadn't believed him when he's told him this and explained why he'd resorted to cloning. Either that or the teenager simply didn't care.

As he studied the remains of the cloning technology Vlad was surprised to find that it was all fixable and maintainable. He raised his eyebrows and laughed sardonically at the cruel mocking irony.

"Fixing these machines won't fix the child that melted!" He growled angrily before throwing a piece of discarded metal across the room and had it crash off the wall at the other side.

As the shard of metal smashed against the wall, the force of it caused the nearby wall cabinet to swing open. Vlad raised an eyebrow and paused for a second. Due to the fact that this was a property he had spent the least amount of time in, and given the state it was currently in, Vlad could not remember what he had stored in the cabinet.

The half ghost walked over and inspected the vials and document. He gasped when he read what the file was titled:

 _DNA ANALYSIS OF DANNY PHANTOM_

Vlad stared at the writing for a few seconds before opening the file to see if it could really be true.

When Danny had attacked Vlad with his ghostly wail all that time ago, he had broken Vlad's computer. A super technological computer which had stored months' worth of information about Danny's DNA. Once the computer was destroyed, Vlad believed all that hard gained information to be gone.

However Vlad had all the information again now, right at his fingertips. The file did indeed contain hard copies of pictures and diagrams which were broken down to explain Danny's DNA structure. It was the information Vlad used analysed to gain an understanding of how to properly structure a clone.

How could he have forgotten that he had back up hard copies? The data was invaluable.

The vials which accompanied the documents were also equally, if not more important when it came to the cloning process. Each vial contained a physical aspect of Danny, which was used to create and form a clone. There were several of them; Danny's blood, ectoplasm, hair, ecto-energy, and so on.

"How could I have forgotten these were here?" Vlad wondered aloud. Had he been so disgruntled by his failed attempts that he'd simply lost the motivation to recall such important aspects to the process?

Vlad couldn't help but inspect the DNA samples. Most of them were still valid sources, except for Danny's blood, of course that had long since coagulated.

Not that blood is a difficult source to find, Vlad thought humourlessly to himself.

Ever so slowly, Vlad's hopes began to rise.

"There is still a chance." Vlad concluded, disbelief coating his voice. "I have all the information I need, I have most of the relevant DNA samples…If I fixed the machines…There is a possibility that I can make another clone!"

Vlad set down the data and files and approached the cloning machines. Technically he only needed one, the one which would help to create and stabilise a clone. Vlad concluded that the machine which Danny had broken when he refused to give a morphing DNA sample would not be necessary.

"To blazes with Danny!" Vlad snapped angrily, remembering the resistance and fight that Danny put up when he attempted to extract the morphing DNA. "It's not all about that little rat anymore. I can provide any missing DNA samples."

Suddenly feeling that purpose in life had been returned to him, Vlad began to identify and process the repairs necessary to his cloning technology immediately.

 **()()()**

 **People! Thanks for reading the first chapter! I have written a few chapters in advance so I can tell you right now this is the most boring one. Lol. As such, if you liked this chapter, then chances are you might like the rest of the story-great! If you didn't like this chapter so much…maybe don't rule it out yet, the story has hardly started.**

 **Please review, I will try my best to answer any queries you have, your opinions are most valued (plus the more reviews the faster I type)!**

 **Thanks guys, until next time!**

 **xseriouslyx**


	2. A tolerance for needles

**Hey everyone, welcome to chapter 2! Thank you for continuing to read on. I will be honest here, this chapter is a little jumpy between scenes for my liking and I got stuck with trying to make it flow better. Please read for yourselves and let me know if you agree, so as I know if it is something I should improve on.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **()()()**

"Hey Danny!" Dani greeted her 'cousin, "How was school?"

Danny smiled at his younger counterpart. Anytime Dani was in town she always made a point of greeting Danny when he returned home from school and asking him how it went. Danny got a strong sense from Dani that she would like to go to school, and mingle with other kids her age.

However the female half ghost never stayed in Amity Park long enough for Danny or Jazz to raise the issue with their parents. Jazz in particular was growing ever concerned about the lack of consistency in Dani's life, and was keen for her to settle down. Jack and Maddie respected the young half ghost's desire to come and go, and Danny was in between; he wanted her to feel normal and secure but he was also envious of her freedom at times.

"Hey Dani." Danny replied, dropping his bag next to the door and throwing himself on to the sofa. "Same old same old, I guess. School can be pretty tiring."

"I don't get it, how can school be tiring?" Dani chuckled, "All you do is sit at a desk most of the day how can that tire anyone out?"

Danny smiled and rolled his eyes at her misconception. "Explore anywhere exciting recently?" He asked her, changing the subject.

"Oh, you know, here and there." Dani said nonchalantly. "I came close to the Colorado Rockies the other day." She added warily, as though she had said a swear word.

Danny raised his eyebrows, but tried not to think too much into it on the first instance.

"Oh yeah? What took you out there?" He asked casually, tiptoeing around the issue.

"Well, just…you know, it's a beautiful landscape and I was sorta born there…" Dani stumbled.

Danny sat up on the sofa and looked at Dani more seriously, "Dani, is there something you're not telling me?"

"I didn't go there Danny, I swear!" Dani blurted out. "I was close, but I couldn't."

"Okay, calm down. You've not done anything wrong." Danny reassured her.

"Danny, just being out there close to his cabin…I got so scared that he'll come back. That he'll come after me again." Dani confessed worriedly.

Danny gently took Dani's hand and pulled her to sit down next to him on the sofa.

"Dani, Vlad is gone. You heard what dad said, there's no way he's coming back. You're one hundred percent safe." Danny reassured her.

"I guess I know that really." Dani sighed. "Sometimes I wish things could have been different…why did Vlad have to be so crazy? Why couldn't he have been a good dad, like Jack?"

Danny frowned slightly at the younger girl's words, "Don't worry about that stuff Dani, Vlad never deserved you anyway. He was never cut out to be a dad, he never cared about other people."

"I guess you're right." Dani smiled weakly, giving Danny a hug. His reassuring words had been kind, but Dani still felt there was a gap in her life which only her 'father' could enlighten. She decided she would simply have to move on and accept that she would never really know the man who gave her her origins.

"You wanna stay for dinner?" Danny asked her.

"That'd be great." Dani grinned.

 **()()()**

As good times were had in Amity Park, Vlad Masters was still facing trials and tribulations. The cloning chamber took nearly two weeks to fix and reactivate. This frustrated Vlad no end because he knew that if he'd had access to his other lab in Amity Park, or to the Ghost Zone, he would have had more tools at his disposal and the job would have been done much faster.

As Vlad inspected the final product his patience had worn so thin with it that he couldn't even release a sigh of relief, or crack a smile.

"Who says things are easier the second time round?" He muttered bitterly, even though he was certain the cloning chamber was finally operational.

"Right. Now the hard work truly begins." He said determinedly as he lifted the documented file containing the DNA analysis.

"Before I attempt to clone Danny's DNA I'll need a structural basis…" Vlad reminded himself.

That had always been the difficult part. Forming the basis of a person required a lot of elements and particles. Elements which took several difficult encounters with Danny to acquire.

The structural basis of a clone was basically what made them look human, a feature which took Vlad several attempts to succeed with. Vlad himself got the elements from fierce personal battles with Danny, after rendering him unconscious.

It was only then that he could use syringes to extract from the boy; blood, ectoplasm, muscle tissue, cartilage and bone marrow.

Vlad winced at the memory. He recalled how intrusive he'd felt, whilst doing this to an injured teenaged boy whilst he was unconscious. At least Danny himself never found out about it.

The older half ghost bit his lip, he knew this was going to be an issue before he rebuild the cloning chamber. He no longer had access to Danny to take these elements from.

He examined what elements he still had belonging to Danny from when he first experimented, and what would still be practical given how long ago they'd been extracted. Vlad was surprised to find he still had most of the elements stored, however there was not enough of each of them to create a clone. Which meant Vlad himself would have to supplement the rest.

Vlad located a drawer of clean syringes and took one out. He sighed as he inspected the needle.

"I guess some good did come out of all those years I spent in the hospital, I developed a very strong tolerance for needles."

 **()()()**

Danny smiled at Sam, a gesture which she reciprocated. It was a sunny day and the young couple were enjoying a picnic under a secluded tree in the park.

"Great day for a picnic." Sam commented contently, as she lay back on the grass.

"Couldn't have said it better myself." Danny agreed, laying down next to her and placing his hand over hers.

It was rare moments when Danny and Sam got to be on their own. Although the townspeople were becoming more used to the fact that Danny was 'the ghost boy,' he still attracted some unwanted attention. This and the fact that they still had ghost patrol duties, homework and family to attend to.

So the couple always made the most of their time alone.

"Isn't this close to where we had one of our 'fake-out make outs?" Danny asked Sam smiling at the memory.

"Yeah, I think it is." Sam agreed chuckling slightly.

Danny sat up and leaned over slightly, "Wanna revisit that moment?" He grinned, "Only, you know, not as fake?"

Sam laughed and gently pushed Danny back, "Not in the park in the middle of the day!" She exclaimed. "I don't want half of Amity Park gawking at me. Pass me a soda please.

Danny smiled and reached into the picnic basket. "Worth a shot!" He remarked, "At least I'm still having more fun than Tucker." He said as he handed Sam her Soda.

"Think maybe he's bit off more than he can chew with the whole mayor thing?" Sam asked.

"I dunno, I mean it can't be easy." Danny replied.

"Hey, at least he hasn't got a tough act to follow." Sam said before taking a sip of her drink. "I mean come on, the last mayor of Amity Park was an evil half ghost who was responsible for nearly destroying the earth. So long as Tucker doesn't get anyone killed, he'll be fine."

Danny frowned at the mention of Vlad. He hadn't heard anyone mention him since Dani spoke about him a couple weeks back. She had been worrying about him and Danny hadn't seen her since that evening.

"Dani was talking about Vlad the last time I saw her." Danny told Sam.

"Oh yeah? Haven't seen her in a while." Sam commented. "Wonder how she is. Do you think she'll ever stay in Amity Park?"

"I wish she would." Danny replied, resting his arms on his knees. "I worry about her when she's off travelling around who knows where."

Sam sat her soda can down and moved closer to Danny. "Danny, you don't need to worry about Danielle. That girl can kick serious butt, no one's gonna hurt her." Sam said, trying to reassure her boyfriend.

"I'm not so worried about someone hurting her…" Danny responded absentmindedly.

"But..?" Sam probed.

Danny shook his head dismissively, "It's nothing. Dani just said that she was worried Vlad will come back and it's got me thinking what if-"

"Vlad's not gonna come back Danny." Sam interrupted with a confident tone. "I get why Dani is worried, Vlad was the first person she knew and he was horrid to her. That's probably stuck with her. But the chances of Vlad even being alive are slim, and even if he was he'd be stupid to come back. Know why?"

"Why?"

"Cause you'll be here to kick his butt, that's why." Sam ginned, gently poking Danny's chest. "You're the hero Danny, and the hero always wins."

Sam rested her head on Danny's shoulder and she looked out over the park.

"Thanks Sam." Danny said, resting his head on hers, "You always know what to say."

Feeling reassured Danny decided to drop the depressing subject which was Vlad Masters, and enjoy the rest of his date with Sam.

 **()()()**

Vlad was sore and weak. It had taken days to obtain enough elements from his body to create a structural basis for a clone. His body was like a pin cushion from the needles.

"No wonder it took Danny a while to recover from our fights." Vlad muttered grimly to himself. He hissed as he yanked the final needle a little too hard from his arm. "Then again at least Danny didn't have to be conscious for it!"

Unlike Danny, whom Vlad stole bodily elements from in bulk, Vlad had to allow himself time to reproduce the particles he was extracting from himself. This was because he needed to uphold his strength and energy, otherwise the process would take twice as long.

Having everything he needed to form a basis for a clone, Vlad began the ethically questionable procedure, using a mixture his and Danny's ectoplasm, muscle tissue, cartilage, bone marrow and Vlad's blood.

Whilst he was doing this Vlad couldn't help but count his blessings that his elements and Danny's elements were compatible, due to them having the same blood type. If they had not been compatible, the process wouldn't work.

"Told you you are more like me than you know Daniel." Vlad sneered as he was working with the boy's DNA.

After a few hours the cloning chamber completed an analysis of the elements, stating the structural basis was complete, though unstable.

Vlad wasn't surprised when he saw this. He got the same result when he was creating Danielle. Meaning the current clone in process still stood a chance.

Having got his verdict, Vlad inspected the remaining vials containing Danny's DNA. This is where the process got complicated.

"I need to be careful as build up the DNA characteristics of the clone." Vlad reminded himself. "If I overwhelm it or misplace a dominant gene the whole thing could be destroyed."

Vlad had learned this the hard way from his earlier cloning attempts. This is why many of them had been misshapen and mindless. Danielle was also the result of a fault at this stage.

The clone chamber had been unable to detect a high enough level of male hormone, therefore it defaulted to a female clone. When Vlad saw this he was shocked into stopping the process to figure out why his son was now a daughter, resulting in Dani only being only developed to that of a twelve year old instead of fourteen.

A very irregular circumstance, to say the least.

If Vlad had been trying to clone an ordinary child this aspect of the process would be much simpler, as there is more knowledge about human biology and genetic design. But human-hybrid genetics?

Vlad carefully added aspects of DNA into the chamber valves, one by one. He was sure to add a balanced amount of hormones this time. He completed the human genetics first, and added the ghost elements on top them. After all, Vlad and Danny were human's first, ghosts second. Vlad followed the analysed data he had found down to every last detail. He could not afford any mistakes.

Unbeknownst to Vlad, aspects of his own distinctive DNA found its way into the chamber valves along with Danny's, which connected via needles and IV lines into the clone. Vlad never noticed, how often does one notice something as miniscule a loose hair or skin flakes?

As Vlad was adding Danny's spectral elements, he couldn't help but question if he could add his own ghostly partials in with Danny's.

"Hm. Combine my ghost half with Danny Phantom's…" Vlad mused to himself.

As the remainder of Danny's ecto-energy vanished inside the chamber Vlad began to laugh.

"Combine my ghost half with Danny's, how ridiculous!" He declared. "Our ghost cores are much too different, it would be disastrous."

With that decision, only Danny's spectral elements entered the cloning chamber. Vlad stood over it, although he didn't know why. It would take hours for the chamber to process the DNA into the clone structure.

Vlad knew realistically he should be tending his own needs, he hadn't ate, hadn't slept, and hadn't bathed.

In honesty the man was disgusted with his current appearance. But still…

He leaned over the chamber, desperate to see his creation form in front of him. The glass on the chamber door had been smashed when it had fallen during Vlad's fight with Danny. He'd simply replaced it with steel. In retrospect, placing a glass chamber upright perhaps hadn't been the best idea. The chamber now sat horizontally on the ground.

Looking at now, Vlad wasn't sure if he liked it this way either. It reminded him too much of a coffin.

With the negative thoughts and memories flooding into his mind, Vlad grew angry with himself and decided to tear himself away from the chamber. This was a long process, and took many hours.

So with one last glance, Vlad took himself off from the lab, debating what he needed most; food, sleep, or a shower.

 **()()()**

Vlad woke with a jolt. He'd fallen asleep, for how long? He sprang up from the chair he'd been sat in and headed straight for the lab. The man was cursing himself for being so lax when the most crucial thing to possibly affect his life was currently forming in a secret room of his cabin. However the man certainly looked much better from having tended to his needs.

Of course, the chamber processing had been completed whilst Vlad had been asleep. He quickly requested an analysis form which printed immediately. Vlad scanned over the biological micro details and focused in on the important aspect:

 _DNA and Characterisation traits process complete._

 _Current clone status: UNSTABLE._

Vlad let out a short lived sigh of relief. He had known that if the clone would make it this far, that this was coming. The cycle had repeated itself, every other clone had been unstable.

And Vlad now knew why.

It was the ghost half of the clones which were causing the instability. Vlad wanted to do more extensive research on this with Danielle but Danny had prevented this. Although Vlad knew that Danielle and all the other clones were missing the morph DNA samples. It was when they were in their ghost forms that they were most vulnerable. After all, Danielle herself was in her ghost form when she nearly melted.

She got very lucky, Vlad thought to himself.

How ironic that Jack Fenton had created a component which stabilised ghosts. Still he had to give Danny credit for thinking outside the box.

Vlad on the other hand did not have that luxury. He knew that in order to stabilise the clone he needed the one sample he was never able to obtain from Danny.

The morphing DNA.

Vlad knew that with the circumstances he was in, only he could provide the morphing DNA. But he was very reserved at this idea, given that the clone had only Danny's ghost molecules. How would it respond to Vlad's morphing DNA?

"Surely it won't matter." Vlad debated to himself. "Both Daniel and myself morph in the exact same way. The only difference is my transformation rings are black and his are white."

Did that matter?

Vlad decided there was only one way to find out, and that the outcome could be worth the risk. He grabbed a needle and syringe, and braced himself. Vlad's hand was shaking slightly. He knew this would be painful, the needle would have reach his ghost core whilst in mid-morph in order to extract the desired DNA particles.

Vlad recalled at that moment how Danny had resisted being forced to morph. The forcefulness itself would have been painful for the teenager, but Vlad knew the extraction itself would have been worse.

Danny had dodged a bullet.

Deciding not to put it off any longer Vlad took a deep breath, gritted his teeth and began to transform. As one black ring met his chest and the other reached his thigh, Vlad stabbed the long needle hard between his ribs.

"AHHHHHH!" Plasmius screamed. The pain was excruciating, it felt like he was being shocked with electricity from the inside. The man dropped from his feet on to his knees, already struggling to remain conscious.

Vlad tried desperately to put the feeling of this unbearable sensation to the back of his mind for a few seconds. With one hand on the syringe and the other on the floor attempting to keep him up, Vlad's fingers pulled back on the syringe plunger in hope that it would extract what he needed. The sooner he did this, the sooner he could end his pain

Once the plunger had reached its limit and wouldn't pull back any further, Vlad gladly ripped the needle out of his body. The man immediately dropped completely on to the floor, fighting to keep his eyes open, and reverted straight back to his human form.

Gasping for air and sweat forming on his brow, Vlad knew that was the worst pain he had experienced in in his life, even if only for a few seconds. He glanced down at the syringe which was barely enclosed in his grasp, the barrel contained a black substance with a dull white glow.

Just like his own transformation rings.

"I've got it." Vlad whispered with relief.

He had successfully bottled his own morphing DNA.

After a few minutes, Vlad finally mustered up the energy to stand on to his feet. He was slightly unbalanced, and his vision was blurry for a few seconds, but he was able to recompose himself and approached the cloning chamber once again.

As Vlad inserted his morphing DNA into the chamber valve, he placed one hand over the top of the chamber.

"Please God, let this work." He whispered.

Vlad could hear the desperation in his own voice, he'd never wanted, no needed, anything so badly in his life. This could be his last shot at true happiness, he needed this to work.

 **()()()**

 **Love a bit of mad scientist, don't you? Oh, and I get that it's a bit out of character for Vlad to refer to Danny as Danny and not 'Daniel.' My reasons for this will be revealed later on.**

 **Hope you like…**

 **xseriouslyx**


	3. A clean slate

**Hello lovely readers! Okay prepare for some fluff in the chapter before and few to follow, and a slightly OOC Vlad. Imagination is a fun thing, enjoy!**

 **()()()**

Vlad didn't move an inch whilst he waited for the cloning chamber to process the morphing DNA. He wasn't sure how long it would take, and he didn't necessarily care. So long as it was successful.

After what felt like hours, but was actually the quickest process to complete, the gentle hum of the chamber came to a sudden halt.

Vlad's head jolted with anticipation.

"Analysis!" He demanded. At thin air it would seem.

The man shook his head dismissively, remembering that the programmed computerised 'Maddie' hologram he'd created was no longer there to respond to his every request.

He quickly mashed the necessary buttons on the machine to print out a manual analysis report.

Vlad ripped the paper from the machine and scanned his eyes over the page. Vlad's eyes lit up and his jaw dropped when he found the words he'd desperately wanted to see:

 _Clone stable_

 _Current Cloning status: COMPLETE._

Vlad almost staggered backwords, he could barely believe these words to be true. Had he really created a perfect clone? After so many failed attempts could it finally be a reality?

Vlad set the analysis report down on a nearby counter. He then stared at the cloning chamber, he was almost frightened to open it, for fear of having his hopes dashed. It had happened so many times before, Vlad wasn't sure if he could handle another failure.

He reached down to undo the latch on the door of the chamber, his fingers trembling slightly. The man then gulped and took a few shaky breaths before quickly thrusting the door open.

Vlad was forced to turn his head and close his eyes from the steam that arose out of the chamber. A natural reaction caused by the heat from the machine and the water required to sustain the clone.

Once the steam cleared up, Vlad looked down into the chamber and gasped.

The clone was a boy. A sleeping form of a boy. His chest moved rhythmically up and down under his plain white t-shirt as he breathed. Although created as a half-ghost, the boy was currently in his human form.

His appearance was highly similar to that of Danny Fenton's, but not identical. This clone was slightly smaller in height than Danny. The reason for this being was because Vlad was wary that due to some of his own DNA being included in the genetic make-up meant that he had to be careful of how long the clone was programmed to 'age' for. Otherwise Vlad could have ended up with a clone in his forties.

Because of this, this boy looked slightly younger than Danny, but older than Danielle. It was probable that he was around the age of thirteen.

More notable differences in the clone in comparison to Danny, was the clone's hair and build. The boy was slightly broader around the chest and shoulders compared to Danny's fine build. This was obviously a trait inherited from Vlad. But the big giveaway was the boy's hair and eyes. Of course he was currently asleep so Vlad couldn't see the color of his eyes, but he had a dark eye outline and dark lashes, similar to Vlad's. The boy's hair was an identical style to Danny's, but was evenly striped black and white. Clearly this was a literal combination of Vlad and Danny's genetics.

Vlad stared at the young boy, taking it all in. He could feel his eyes attempting to well up with tears.

"He's perfect." Vlad whispered in awe.

He wanted to reach down and gently rouse the boy, but before he moved his hand to do so, the boy's eyes began to flicker open.

The clone was stirred awake by the sudden light that had entered the dark enclosed chamber when Vlad had opened the door. As his eyes fought to fully open properly for the first time and focus, Vlad could finally see the boy's eyes. They were like Danny's, big and bright. However, instead of a light icy blue color, they were a dark, midnight blue. Vlad's eye colour.

As his vision began to become clearer, the boy's sight focused in on the man who had opened the chamber and woke him up. The clone gave him a curious look.

"Daniel?" Vlad blurted out, raising his eyebrows. He couldn't help it, the way the clone had just looked at him had reminded him so much of Danny Fenton. The expression he gave, it practically spoke to Vlad, and it said, 'What are you looking at, fruitloop?'

"D-an-ul…" The clone stuttered, attempting to repeat Vlad.

It suddenly dawned on Vlad how strange this all probably was to a clone. He had basically just been born after all. He may be similar to Danny, but he would have none of his memories. The boy was a clean slate.

It made Vlad think back to when Danielle had been created. She too had been stunned to begin with. Vlad was so perplexed by the fact that she was female that he didn't pay much attention to the fact that she could function better than all of his previous clones put together. As a means of survival Danielle had followed Vlad around, once she had mastered walking, and Vlad soon become aware of her abilities…

Vlad slowly reached into the chamber and gently pulled the teenaged clone upright, so he was sitting up in the chamber. The boy made a couple of jerky movements, unsure about what the man was manipulating his body to do.

"Yes, that's right." Vlad said gently, as he eased the boy upward. "Daniel. That is your name."

Vlad knew he was not being very original by naming the clone Daniel. In fact it seemed darn right strange naming him after the boy who had caused so much disappointment and destruction in Vlad's life. But he couldn't help it. The clone would suit the name Daniel, naturally. Besides, Vlad happened to like that particular name. More so than 'Danny.'

Danny Fenton is Danny Phantom. Vlad thought bitterly. This is Daniel.

The boy's deep blue eyes bore into Vlad's as he told him his name. Once he was sat upright he quickly inspected his arms, hands and legs, amazed to realise that he could easily manipulate the movement of them. He then turned his curiosity to his strange new surroundings, turning his head to get a full view of the lab. Vlad cringed inwardly, seeing what the boy was doing. He wished that the environment Daniel saw for the first time was less cold and appeared less destructive.

The boy then turned his attention back to Vlad.

"Daniel." He repeated once again. More clearly this time, demonstrating that his voice was also similar to Danny Fenton's

Vlad smiled. "Clever boy. Can you say other things, hm?" He prompted.

Daniel pressed his lips together, thinking, not taking his eyes off Vlad. It felt very strange trying to talk, but he could understand what this man was saying to him. It would be great if he could reciprocate.

"W-what is your name?" Daniel asked slowly, trying desperately to pronounce all of his words properly and in the correct order.

He smiled to himself once he had successfully spoke the sentence. Seeing this melted Vlad's heart. It was Daniel's first success in life, and although it had been something as small and simple as forming a sentence, Vlad still felt an odd sense of pride.

With a gentle smile on his face, Vlad answered the young teenager. "My name is Vlad Masters…I am your father." Vlad felt his body stiffen, it felt amazing to say those words. He never thought he would ever get the opportunity in his life to use them.

Daniel tilted his head and lowered his eyebrows as many thoughts entered his head. 'Father.' He knew that word…it was parallel to mother, did he have one of those too? Father…he didn't really like that word.

"Dad?" Daniel asked Vlad. That was an acceptable term for the word father, wasn't it?

Vlad raised an eyebrow at Daniel. Personally, he preferred father as he was more formal by nature. However, he wasn't going to dwell on something so trivial. Being a perfectionist had caused him nothing but trouble in the past.

"Yes, you can call me that if you like." Vlad replied. "Do you want to stand?"

Daniel watched as Vlad stood up and was suddenly towering over him. It was a little bit intimidating actually. He bit his lip as he looked nervously up at Vlad.

"Give me your hands." Vlad prompted, offering his own. Seeing Daniel's reservations he gently added. "Come on, there's nothing to worry about my boy."

Daniel gave in and reached both his arms up, clasping his hands in Vlad's.

"Alright, now I'm going to pull you up on to your feet." Vlad explained.

The older hybrid began to pull Daniel off the ground. Daniel's legs immediately began to shake from the additional weight being added on to them.

"Whoa!" Daniel mumbled shakily, frightened that he was going to collapse on to the ground again.

"It's alright Daniel, I've got you." Vlad reassured him, still lightly holding on to his hands, "Look, you're standing just fine. You just need to get your balance."

Vlad went on from there to help Daniel take his first steps out of the cloning chamber. Within minutes, Daniel had mastered his balance and was able to take steps on his own across the cold and dirty lab floor

The teenager was ecstatic with his accomplishment. "I can walk!" He cried happily, grinning at Vlad.

Vlad smiled at the teenager, "That's excellent, my boy. It won't be long before you can do even greater things."

Daniel's eyes widened with excitement, "You mean, like run?"

Vlad smirked at the boy's innocence. "Yes, I suppose you can run. Or fly. Or shoot balls of fire from your hands."

Daniel stopped walking and stared at Vlad. He didn't understand. He knew what those things meant. But he didn't understand how he was expected to do them.

"Here, let me show you." Vlad offered upon seeing the boy's lost expression.

Seconds later, Daniel watched in horror as two black rings engulfed his father and replaced him with a terrifying creature with blue skin and red eyes.

Shocked, Daniel fell backwards and tried to scramble away from the frightening individual, screaming in fear.

Vlad's eyes widened and he gasped at the boy's reaction. He quickly turned back to his human form and rushed over to Daniel to try and reassure the boy.

Vlad cursed himself for frightening the child, he should have known better, after all something of a similar nature had happened with Danielle. She had grown used to, and attached to Vlad in his ghost form. Plasmius was whom she had become accustomed to as her father. Opposite to Daniel, she had learned ghost first, human second, not even aware of her human form. Therefore, when Plasmius disappeared one day and in his place was the human Vlad Masters, the girl had been notably upset. It was then Vlad had explained to her that they were half ghosts, and showed her how to turn human.

He hadn't bothered to do so prior to this because he was certain that she would decompose on her own at some point.

Vlad kneeled down on the floor beside Daniel and tried to move his arms away from his face, which he was using to cover his eyes.

"Daniel, Daniel it's alright it's still me. Look!" Vlad tried to explain to the teenager over his screams.

The boy eventually got a glance at his 'nice father.' The one who had taught him to walk, and immediately scanned the room to see if his scary father was still about, not quite grasping the concept that they were one and the same.

Vlad felt awful for frightening the boy, he knew immediately that he had gone about explaining the ghost powers the wrong way. He watched as Daniel fearfully looked around for Vlad's ghost half, his breathing rushed and his eyes watery.

He sighed as he sat down properly next to Daniel. He couldn't help but think back to when he had first discovered he was half ghost. It had been pretty fear-provoking for him. He then wondered how Danny Fenton learned of his powers, and what his reaction was.

Vlad quickly turned his attention back to Daniel, realising that none of that was important right now. He had to calm his son down and properly explain about their ghost halves.

The boy stared at Vlad, waiting patiently for an explanation. He rubbed each of his eyes with his hand, drying away any tears which had previously formed and had threatened to fall.

"There's no need to be afraid of me when you see me like that, Daniel." Vlad explained. To reinforce this, he turned into his alter-ego again.

Daniel visibly flinched, but this time he understood it was still Vlad, so the fear element in his reaction decreased.

"I can do this because I am half ghost, my boy." Vlad went on to say. "I got my powers in a spectral experimental accident in college about twenty years ago. Since then I've mastered the powers I obtained from it."

Vlad offered a brief demonstration by forming an ecto-ray in his hand. Daniel's eyes widened in disbelief and wonderment.

"You have this ability too, Daniel." Vlad said to the boy with a small smile, "It's in your DNA, you are half ghost too."

Daniel blinked at Vlad. This was a shock to the system to say the least, he'd only just learned to walk, and now this bombshell.

"I-I don't know how to be a ghost." Daniel mumbled, looking at Vlad with worried eyes.

"Then it's a good thing that I can teach you, isn't it?" Vlad replied.

Although calm and collected on the outside, Vlad was secretly ecstatic. Daniel was unsure and naïve, a complete blank slate. He was everything Vlad had wanted, he'd finally get to mould his perfect apprentice.

If only he hadn't lost everything and had something worthwhile to pass on to the boy…

Quickly suppressing that last negative thought to the back of his mind, Vlad smiled again at Daniel.

"Do you want to try and change into your ghost half?" Vlad asked him. Thinking that the perception of being half ghost may be less frightening for him if he learned how to transform into a ghost himself.

Daniel bit his lip nervously. Honestly, he wasn't sure he did want to try. Daniel was interested in trying new things and he would like to be able to please Vlad, but this ghost stuff was way over his head…

"Just concentrate, will yourself to transform." Vlad explained, not waiting for a reply, "Think about yourself as a ghost. Soon it'll all come easy to you once you've successfully done it a few times."

Daniel looked at Vlad. The man was giving off extremely encouraging vibes. He decided to at least try, but what did Vlad mean, how was he meant to picture himself as a ghost? Should he imagine how Vlad looks as a ghost?

Daniel closed his eyes and really focused. He thought about the word ghost, transform, change, he thought about the ecto-ray Vlad had shown him, the rings which had changed him…Daniel suddenly felt a slight tingle at the top of his stomach. He opened his eyes slightly and yelled out in surprised when he saw two black rings around his torso, one slowly creeping up his body and the other going down.

Due to Daniel's shock, he lost his focus and the two rings quickly met again and cancelled the transformation.

"Try again Daniel." Vlad persisted. "You were very close, don't be frightened of it."

Daniel nodded in response, but it was hard not to be frightened of something like this. He closed his eyes again and repeated what he had just done. He almost immediately felt the tingle in his stomach again, and his body tensed up as he sensed the movement of the rings, for one second he saw the brightness from the rings on the inside of his eyelids.

Suddenly the tingling stopped.

"Daniel, open your eyes." Vlad said softly.

Daniel did. He gasped, his clothes had suddenly changed. Instead of the pain white t-shirt and pants he had woken up in, he had black boots, a completely silver-white jumpsuit with a red band around his waist, a red collar at his neck and black elbow length boots.

Vlad stared at Daniel. His ghost half was a complete mixture of himself and Danny. Vlad concluded that it must be because he'd provided the morph DNA. Daniel's jumpsuit was identical to Danny Phantom's, but it had incorporated Vlad Plasmius' color scheme. Daniel's skin color remained the same, his hair remained striped black and white, however unusually where his hair was black in human form it was now white in ghost form, and visa-versa.

Once Daniel opened his eyes, Vlad couldn't stop staring at them. They were red. Not pupil-less like his own, just the iris where they had previously been blue. They were fascinating, and if Daniel didn't have his innocent charm Vlad couldn't help but think that he would look fairly malevolent with such blood red eyes.

"My clothes…" Daniel mumbled in surprise. He turned and looked to Vlad for an explanation. "Why did my clothes change?"

Daniel noticed that Vlad was staring intensively at him and appeared deep in thought.

"Are you okay?" Daniel asked worriedly. "Did I do it properly?"

Vlad heard Daniel's voice and blinked a few times to re-focus on the situation, and the boy's question.

"Hm? Yes. Yes, you've done it perfectly." Vlad praised, smiling. "You are a very charming young half ghost."

Vlad stood up and searched the cabinets for a mirror, so the boy could see for himself. Daniel watched him with curiosity. Vlad quickly found a dusty old hand mirror and simply wiped the reflective glass with his gloved hand whilst walking back to Daniel.

"Here we are." He said to the younger half ghost with a smile, holding the mirror up in front of him.

Daniel gazed into the mirror, staring at the other person's red eyes and striped messy hair, watching as he mimicked his own movements.

"Is that me?" He asked Vlad in surprise, shocked by his unusual features.

"This is what you look like as a ghost." Vlad explained, realising the boy hadn't seen himself before. "This is your reflection."

Daniel looked back at the glass, and decided he appeared a little startling as a ghost.

"I think you're more scary as a ghost than I am." Daniel said to Vlad, "But my eyes are creepier!"

Vlad chuckled at the boy's perceptive comment. "Your eyes are perfect. You look just fine."

Daniel kept looking in the mirror. "Do I look like this as a human?"

"Change back and see for yourself." Vlad suggested.

Daniel focused hard again, this time thinking about being human again, and of course the black rings appeared and changed him back.

"I told you you would get the hang of it." Vlad said confidently, transforming human himself.

Daniel looked in the mirror and was pleased to see that the creepy red eyes were gone and had been replaced by kind blue ones. Although he scowled when he saw his hair still remained black _and_ white.

"What's wrong with my hair?" Daniel pouted, running his fingers through it.

Vlad rolled his eyes, "Your hair is fine. Come, let's get you something to eat. Your body needs to be nourished and absorb vitamins to function well."

Daniel smiled at up at Vlad and set the mirror down on the floor. The older halfa offered a hand to help Daniel on to his feet, which he accepted. The younger half ghost then followed his father out of the cold lab, and into the living quarters of the cabin.

 **()()()**

 **And so the life of the 'perfect' half ghost son begins…**

 **Please tell me your thoughts and perceptions, I read every one!**

 **xseriouslyx**


	4. Curiousity

**Hi guys, welcome back! Thought I'd give another update as I took ages with the last one! Some more fluff coming your way, here's chapter four; New plans and new Schemes.**

 **()()()**

As Daniel's first day came to a close, a tired Vlad Masters looked over at his young charge from his lavish arm chair and noticed the boy's eyes were getting heavy and he seemed overly comfortable in his own chair. Vlad realised that he would have to put the younger hybrid to bed soon.

It had been one of the best days of Vlad Master's life. Even after one day Vlad firmly felt that having Daniel come into what was his cold and lonely world had truly been a Godsend, but it had also been a tiring day all the same.

As the day had progressed there were several times when Vlad had wished that he had paid more attention to Danielle when she had been first formed. Had he done this, he may have been more attuned to the needs of newly formed Daniel.

Although intelligent and a fast learner, just like any other person Daniel had to be taught how to do the simplest of tasks for the first time. Such as holding his knife and fork, and feeding himself.

"My hands don't work properly!" Daniel cried in despair, as he watched how easily Vlad could hold and successfully use his knife and fork to eat his pork chop and peas.

As Vlad had been unable to shop for groceries and other necessities, he'd been making do with food which had been previously stored in the freezer and had not yet gone sour or off. Meaning his options at meal times were currently limited. This was an anomaly which he would have to address in the near future.

Putting down his own knife and fork, Vlad picked up Daniel's. "Your hands work perfectly fine, Daniel. You simply need to learn how to use them correctly."

Vlad positioned Daniel's cutlery in the correct hands and guided him on how to use them. Daniel attempted to copy as Vlad had shown him, and watched him closely whist he was eating. Daniel appeared to grasp the concept, but needless to say it took a long time before he cleared his plate.

Daniel was also extremely curious. This was an excellent trait when there were two people and someone was eager to learn and the other was keen to teach. Which happened to be the case in this situation. Vlad sensibly decided that Daniel had to learn and be comfortable with the aspects of being a human, before diving into the complexities of being a half ghost. He desperately hoped that he hadn't frightened Daniel off the idea by throwing him off guard in the lab previously.

Whilst Vlad didn't mind teaching and explaining things to Daniel, the follow up 'why's' and 'how come's' and 'what if's' became incredibly tiresome. Vlad soon realised that due to Daniel being so new to the world, it would probably take a while before he would mentally be the age he was physically designed to be.

There was one half hour when Daniel quietened down, enabling Vlad to relax for a while. Vlad thought the boy would perhaps lie down for a nap, as he'd had a pretty exhausting day. However Daniel didn't appear to be interested in sleeping, and began to squirm an awful lot.

Vlad didn't take much notice and was honestly too drained to think too much into it. Consequently, this oversight resulted in the younger half ghost needing a change of pants.

Daniel wasn't overly fazed about this incident, in fact he was quite happy to be receiving a change of clothes, not particularly caring for the plain thin white material he'd been cloned in. Vlad on the other hand could have kicked himself for not paying enough attention to the boy's needs. He couldn't blame his charge, he wasn't to know any better really.

Vlad was also wary that he didn't have many clothes in Colorado, let alone any that would be of use to a boy of thirteen. In the end Daniel was dressed in causally smart black jeans which were turned up at the bottom and fastened on the tightest belt notch, and a too big red shirt which still nearly reached his knees when tucked in. He had to make do with socks as all of Vlad's shoes were too big, and he'd tried on a casual black blazer which he liked and coordinated with the rest of the outfit, but it drowned him in size and had to be left off.

"It does suit you, having said that." Vlad had told Daniel, "Both the style and color of the clothes. I'll have to look into finding you similar items in your own size."

Daniel smiled at this suggestion. "Does this mean you're not mad about the other pants getting wet?"

Vlad inwardly cringed on the child's behalf, "No, no I'm not mad…but Daniel, that's something you want to get on top of sooner rather than later."

"Okay." Daniel responded casually, still enjoying his 'new' clothes.

Yes, it had certainly been a busy day, for both hybrids. Vlad stood up and approached Daniel, whose head was beginning to drop from exhaustion.

"Come Daniel, let's get you to bed." Vlad said firmly.

Daniel stood up and obediently followed Vlad into a room which kept in with the country/forest theme of the rest of the cabin. Vlad switched on a table lamp which softly lit up the room, allowing Daniel to see that the bed was made with a wooden frame which matched the style of the dressers. There was a small fireplace which was currently unlit, and a grand large wooden framed mirror was arched just above it.

Daniel, although incredibly tired, still observed the room and decided that he liked it a lot. It was cosy, and the best part, there were no animal heads pelted on the walls or sprawled over the floor. Daniel hadn't wanted to say anything to Vlad, but he didn't like them very much.

Vlad pulled back the quilt on the bed and gestured for Daniel to get in. As Vlad pulled the cover back over again Daniel yawned and asked, "What are we doing now?"

"You're going to go to sleep." Vlad replied quietly.

"What happens to me when I sleep?"

"Nothing happens to you. Your body simply rests and recharges, so that you'll have enough energy for the following day."

"Do you sleep?"

"Yes Daniel, everyone sleeps."

"So what if-"

"Shh. No more questions." Vlad said softly. "Save them for the morning, I'll still be here to answer them."

"Promise?" Daniel asked looking up at Vlad with a tired smile, his sleepy eyes glistening slightly from the dimmed light in the otherwise dark room.

Vlad smiled back, he couldn't help it. Daniel had the most charming smile he'd ever seen, even if he was half asleep. Vlad didn't care how tired he was, he didn't care if he was this tired every day for the rest of his life. No one had ever smiled at him like this before. No one had needed him like this before. Vlad had only spent one day with this child and it was probably one of the most rewarding, worthwhile day of his life.

"I promise." Vlad confirmed, his smile not faltering.

"Good." Daniel responded, before he let his tiredness to take over and take him into a deep, much needed sleep.

"Sleep well, Daniel." Vlad whispered to his sleeping charge.

 **()()()**

As Danny walked downstairs he stretched and smiled happily, smelling his mom's delicious pancakes coming from the kitchen. Saturday morning breakfasts were hard to beat.

When Danny neared the kitchen he heard a lot of cheerful chatting. When he walked in he was surprised to see Danielle sitting at the table along with his sister and father, whilst Maddie was filling the plates. She was the first to notice that Danny had entered the room.

"Morning sweetie." She beamed at her son.

"Hey Danny!" Dani grinned at her 'cousin.'

"…Hey Dani." Danny managed to utter after a noticeable pause.

Danny was truly shocked to see his 'cousin' in her human form, casually sitting at the breakfast table with his family. Not just for the shear fact that she made sporadic appearances and he hadn't clapped eyes on her in weeks, but she looked pretty ragged, despite putting on a cheery demeanour.

Dani's clothes were torn in places, and pretty dirty. Despite her hair being tied back and partially covered by her hat, it was noticeably tatted as well.

"It's good to see you again." Danny continued, taking his seat at the table. "What brings you back to Amity?"

"Oh…just thought I'd stop by and see how my favourite family are doing." Dani replied, with a slightly nervous tone in her voice which didn't go unnoticed by most at the table.

"Well you're welcome to stay as long as you like, girl Danny." Jack confirmed with a smile. Whether the smile was meant for Dani or the pancakes which had just been placed in front of him was debatable.

"Dad! Don't call her that!" Jazz scolded her father, "Dani is her own person and shouldn't feel that she is only substantiated by Danny."

"Oh, uh, sorry." Jack muttered as he stuck into his delicious breakfast, not really certain about what Jazz meant. Or which 'Danny' she was referring to.

"Don't worry about it." Dani said nonchalantly, more interested in the plate which had just been placed in front of her. "Thanks!" She beamed at Maddie.

Dani then stuck into her breakfast at such a fast rate, she gave Jack a run for his money.

"Whoa." Jazz commented in surprise, upon seeing how fast the younger girl was eating.

"Gee Dani, you sure are hungry." Danny said, although he made it sound more like a question than an observation.

"Yes, you are." Maddie agreed, with clear concern lining her voice. "Young lady when was the last time you had a proper meal?"

Dani's fork paused for a second, and she looked up at Maddie with a guilty smile rather than directly answer the question.

"Just what I thought." Maddie continued, "Now this is not okay, you can't just be roaming around not knowing when you'll next eat! Do you even have anywhere consistent to stay?"

"I think the answer to that is pretty obvious." Jazz said imperturbably. She too had noticed Dani's run down appearance, and had come up with her own conclusions.

"You don't know me!" Dani snapped rudely at Jazz, "I like to travel and explore, what's wrong with that?"

"Dani no one's saying there's anything wrong with it, but look at yourself." Danny said calmly, "I think I know why you came back here. It's okay to ask for help."

Slightly embarrassed by Danny's correct assumption, Dani hung her head. She had been living pretty rough recently. She'd been so determined to take care of herself and be independent, she didn't want to seek out help from Danny again like she had done in the past.

"Well then I insist you stay with us." Maddie said firmly, finally taking her own seat at the table.

"Absolutely." Jack boomed. "What kind of people would we be if we turned away one of our own."

"Wow…thanks." Dani mumbled with surprise and gratitude. She was still learning that there were kind people in the world, and she wouldn't always be hunted or rejected as Vlad had done.

"Tell you what, Sam, Tucker and I are going to the mall later. Why don't you get yourself a shower and come with us? Maybe pick up some new clothes." Danny offered.

"Really? That'd be great!" Dani beamed.

"That's a good idea, Danny." Maddie remarked.

"Awesome." Danny said in confirmation. "Jazz, you wanna come?"

"No thanks Danny, I've a lot of school work to do. Jazz replied. "College applications don't write themselves!"

"Suit yourself." Danny shrugged, and turned to Dani again. "I'll call Sam and Tucker and let them know you're coming. They'll be glad to see you again to I bet."

"Cool." Dani replied with a smile.

 **()()()**

Vlad woke up early the next morning, before Daniel. He'd slept in the same room as the boy on a large armchair with a blanket draped around him. He wasn't sure why but for some reason he didn't feel right leaving Daniel on his own during his first night.

Vlad quietly got up, and before leaving the room he looked over Daniel. The boy was still sleeping soundly, his breathing nice and even, with his quilt wrapped securely over his shoulders. Vlad smiled contently, then took himself off to wash up.

By the time he'd finished it had gone after seven, and the older hybrid went into the kitchen. Vlad's mood immediately changed and reality hit him hard.

He had virtually no food to feed himself or Daniel.

All that was left which was edible was frozen peas and dried pasta. Vlad sighed with dismay as he sat down at the table. He didn't even have any coffee to sit and mull his thoughts over with.

"Hello?" Called an uncertain voice from down the hall which led to the kitchen.

"In here, Daniel." Vlad responded.

Seconds later Daniel came into the kitchen and joined Vlad at the table, smiling at him with adulation.

Vlad gave a small smile in return. He knew he'd have to do better for Daniel. The boy was still wearing the same over-sized clothes from the day before, and he didn't even have shoes. The cabin was in still a bit of a mess from when the battle with Dani and Danielle had broken out, not to mention it hadn't been cleaned for months. Hardly the best living conditions for a child. Now he'd woken up and there was nothing for his breakfast. It really wasn't fair.

Reality was beginning to creep back over Vlad. He realised that he had become so quickly obsessive about creating Daniel he had forgotten that he was in a desperate situation which would compromise his ability to properly care for the boy.

Vlad knew that living a secluded life would be difficult, but doable. It would be unlikely that anyone would trouble him this far in the middle of nowhere. He had installed his own solar panels and wind turbine for electricity when he had the cabin build. His fireplace would heat the boilers for hot water and warmth, and there was a forest full of trees for firewood. Vlad's water supply came from a nearby lake and river which was incorporated by a small water purification and sewage system, build specifically for the secluded, but well furnished, cabin.

Yes, when Vlad had the home constructed he'd though of everything which was necessary to make isolated living simple and straight forward. Everything except food. And the whole concept of isolated living in the Rockies seemed simple enough when he was planning to escape space, but now he'd brought a child into the mix, and that complicates any situation.

"You okay?" Daniel asked with slight concern about his 'spaced out' father, tearing Vlad away from his thoughts.

"Hm? Yes, yes I'm fine." Vlad responded passively.

Daniel bit his lip and run one hand through his already messy hair. He could see that Vlad's attention was currently elsewhere, on the other hand he had a question which had been playing on his mind since yesterday and he was keen for an answer. So he finally just blurted it out.

"Where's my mom?" Daniel asked, gazing at Vlad with his elbows on the table and his head in his hands.

If Vlad could have sat up any straighter, he would have from surprise. "I-I'm sorry?" He responded in disbelief, wondering if he had indeed heard the young half ghost correctly.

"My mom." Daniel repeated. "If you're my dad, then who's my mom? Everyone has one, right?"

Vlad closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Along with everything else, he did not need this bombshell right now. His priority was figuring out how to survive without being exposed, not explaining the clone version of the birds and the bees to his one day old cloned son.

Daniel blinked at Vlad's non-verbal response, patiently waiting for an answer to his seemingly straight forward question.

Before finally replying, Vlad took a deep breath. "Well Daniel, due to the fact that you technically were not born, you do not have a mother. You were cloned from DNA and formed within a special chamber I built to manipulate different cells into creating another human-being. Or in your case, human-ghost hybrid."

For several seconds Daniel stared at Vlad silently with a blank expression. Trying desperately hard to process what the older hybrid had just told him. What made it all the more strange was that Vlad made it sound as though he was explaining something simple or common, like how to fold a t-shirt.

"So…I'm not a real person?" Daniel finally asked, feeling sad at the thought.

"Of course you are a real person, Daniel. The only difference between you and everyone else is that you have ghost powers. And trust me, that is a good thing." Vlad verified.

"But if I'm a clone…then I'm just a copy of you." Daniel argued, feeling less and less significant by the second.

"On the contrary Daniel, you are very unique." Vlad firmly stated, noticing the boy's dismay. "And besides, you're not made up of my DNA alone."

Vlad's heart skipped a beat when he realised what he'd just said. Now he was left open to questions about who the other DNA cells came from.

"Your other genes came from the only other human being who developed ghost DNA." Vlad quickly added, hoping that would be the end of the discussion.

"Who was the other person?" Daniel asked without missing a beat.

Vlad had to physically stop himself from groaning. "A young man named Danny Fenton."

Daniel raised his eyebrows, surprised as he had naturally assumed that the other part of his DNA had come from a woman. "So…I don't have a mom, I-I have two dad's?" He asked in confusion.

"No!" Vlad snapped. "I created you, I am your father. That's the end of it."

Daniel pressed his lips together nervously, having picked up on Vlad's irritable tone. He hadn't meant to annoy his father, but he was naturally curious about his origins.

Vlad noticed Daniel suddenly went quiet and looked slightly nervous. He realised that he had been rather sharp with his last remark. Vlad knew his lack of patience this morning had stemmed from discovering that he was currently in a tight spot when it came to providing for Daniel.

If he went out to buy food he'd be exposed.

If he contacted anyone anywhere for food delivery he'd be exposed. Not to mention he was too far from civilisation for that to even be a possibility.

Vlad had contemplated changing his appearance to decrease the likelihood of someone recognising him. But he had attempted world domination, there was virtually no where he could go where he would be completely unidentifiable. He also had very little cash on his person, true he had his cards and check book but the banks would then be alerted to their use, and begin to track him.

How was he to explain all of this to Daniel?

Vlad observed the boy, who was still sitting quietly. He couldn't possibly tell him all of this. What he had done to deserve to be this isolated. He would turn away from him, just like Danielle had done. Vlad couldn't bear it if that happened again.

But Daniel was naive and impressionable, and was not exposed to anyone other than Vlad.

Vlad smiled as he began to contemplate a way around his difficult situation. He didn't want to lie and manipulate Daniel, but he saw no other way around it.

"Daniel? Don't look so disheartened, my boy. I'm sorry I snapped at you." Vlad said kindly. "Now, I've realised that we've no food in the house so I was thinking that you and I could take the helicopter and head out for the day. Pick up some food, and new clothes for yourself."

An excited smile grew on Daniel's face. The thought of flying in a helicopter was exhilarating, but Daniel couldn't wait to get out and see the world. Even if it was only to browse around shops, this would be a wonderfully new experience for Daniel.

"Really? Where will we go?"

Vlad gave the boy a small smirk. "I think we should visit a town I used to live in. It's called Amity Park."

 **()()()**

 **Okay, admittedly there's not as much action in this chapter, but it was necessary for story development…Hope you all enjoyed it anyway! Shouldn't have too long a wait for the next update. Take care until then!**

 **xseriouslyx**


	5. Hiding and Flying

Vlad expertly landed the helicopter in a forested and hilly landscape about five miles from Amity Park. He knew installing a helipad at his cabin would be worth the extra cost for the convenience of travel. He figured it would be best to simply fly himself the rest of the way from the outskirts of Amity Park rather than risk drawing attention to himself with the helicopter.

As the half ghost turned off the engines he glanced around to see Daniel was already out of his seat and staring eagerly out the window on the door.

"Didn't I tell you to stay in your seat?" Vlad reminded the boy irritably.

"Sorry." Daniel gushed excitedly, "I thought it was okay cause the plane had landed."

"Helicopter." Vlad corrected the boy, as he undid his own safety straps and approached him. "This is a helicopter, Daniel. Now, more importantly, do you remember what I told you about what you have to do during our little outing, hm?"

Daniel's enthusiastic demeanour immediately changed upon hearing Vlad's question. He knew what the other hybrid was getting at, and it made him very anxious.

"You want me to stay invisible." Daniel quietly responded.

"Intangible." Vlad corrected. "You are going to learn more about how to use some of your basic ghost powers. Now, do you remember why I'm asking you to do this today?"

"Because it's important that no one sees us." Daniel answered. "But I don't understand why. How come no one is allowed to see us?"

Vlad sighed, knowing this question was eventually going to pop up.

"Because when I lived here there were a few people who I did not get on with very well." He explained simply. "Therefore it's very important that I do not get recognised."

Daniel was confused by Vlad's pathetic attempt to clarify the situation, and he held an expression which confirmed that he didn't completely buy this explanation.

"But no one will recognise me." Daniel argued. "And you're all wrapped up in that coat and hat, it would be hard to recognise anyone underneath it."

It was true, as a precaution Vlad had uncharacteristically bundled himself inside a long heavy coat and rain hat, with un-coordinating sunglasses. He had no intention of being visible at all, but the risks he was running from going near Amity Park ran high. He had even contemplated cutting his hair short to increase his safety.

Daniel was even more difficult to disguise. The boy didn't know that he could be recognised through association to Danny Phantom, as he naturally had very strong resemblances to the famous ghost boy. Not to mention his black and white hair and oversized clothes would likely draw in stares. There was nothing Vlad could do about the clothes, however he had clamped a woolly hat down over Daniel's head to conceal his hair, and stuffed a pair of his shoes with socks for Daniel to wear on his feet.

Although all of this was in case of an emergency. Vlad truly had no intentions of either of them being visible at any time whilst they were in Amity Park.

"It's not a risk I'm willing to take Daniel." Vlad said firmly. "Now, let's get this over with. Are you ready to fly the rest of our journey?"

Vlad had covered the basics of flying and turning intangible with Daniel before they'd left the cabin. The boy learned the techniques relatively quickly and proved he could use them effectively. However, he lacked confidence in his abilities.

Vlad was aware of this, but he still felt Daniel was capable of using these two powers for a couple of hours. The harder he tried the faster his skills and confidence would grow.

Still, Vlad made a mental note to staying close to the boy at all costs, to help him out if necessary.

As Vlad transformed into his ghost half, Daniel bit his lip as he watched the black rings engulf his father and replace him with the more frightening ghost persona. Vlad saw the boy's reaction and didn't care for it. Why did his ghost half still make him nervous?

"Now you." Plasmius urged.

Obediently Daniel did as he was told, easily transforming into his ghost half. He shuddered as he did so. It all still felt very strange to him. Daniel had been excited about visit a new place, but turning into a ghost and using supernatural powers took some of the fun and excitement out of for him, and replaced it with nerves and anxiety.

"Very good." Vlad commented. "Now I'm going to turn intangible, so you won't be able to see me, and fly myself out of the helicopter into the air. You mustn't panic, I'll make myself visible once I'm in the air. I would like you to do the same."

Within seconds, Daniel watched as Plasmius vanished before his eyes.

Trying not to worry or overthink things too much, Daniel also turned intangible and slowly floated upwards and soon exited the helicopter. He could feel himself tremble as he did so, frightened that he might fall.

As he noticed he was above the helicopter and no longer inside it, Daniel dropped his intangibility and was visible again. True to his word, so was Plasmius. The older half ghost smiled at Daniel's success, as it was clear to him how unsure Daniel was of himself when it came to his ghost half.

"See, it's not that difficult." Plasmius said to the boy, who was floating in an unbalanced manner. "Now we are going to fly towards the city centre, when we get close I'll tell you when we need to turn intangible again."

"But I won't be able to see you!" Daniel wailed. "What if I lose you and get lost? What if I fall from the sky and…and-"

"Daniel you need to calm down." Plasmius droned. "Do you honestly think I would let you fall? I assure you I will keep you completely safe, once I turn intangible I'll take your hand. This will turn you intangible as well, and you'll be able to feel my grasp."

Daniel stared at Plasmius, doing his best to take on board his reassurances. The man always seemed to have an answer.

Plasmius gave the boy a gentle smile. Or, as gentle as a smile can get when it comes from an evil appearing ghost. "Really my boy, you have nothing to worry about. Now come, let's do some proper flying shall we?"

 **()()()**

Danny, Dani, Sam and Tucker each smiled as they entered Amity Park's mega mall. It was a rare moment when any of them could simply relax and take part in normal teenaged activities.

"Thanks for letting me tag along you guys." Dani said to the trio. She was truly grateful to get the chance to spend time with Danny, and shop around like a normal kid for once.

"No problem Dani." Sam said to the younger half ghost, "I'll show you where to buy the best clothes, black is totally your color."

"Sam…" Danny jokingly warned. "I think Dani should choose what clothes she likes the most."

"Yeah knock it off Sam." Tucker interjected, "it's bad enough you tried to convert me into a Goth once."

"Man I wish I had photos of that. Could you imagine what the citizens of Amity Park would say if they saw their current mayor all gothed up?" Sam chucked.

"So not funny Sam." Tucker mumbled irritably.

"Come on Tuck it's not that bad." Danny said with a smile. "It wasn't a bad look for you, if you didn't have as much make-up."

Both Dani and Sam laughed at this comment whilst Tucker continued to scowl.

"You guys suck sometimes, you know that?" Tucker moaned.

"We love you really Tucker." Sam reassured, throwing her arm around her friend's shoulder for good measure.

"Oohh, don't Sam, you might make Danny jealous!" Dani teased.

"Shut up Dani." Danny shrugged off, although as his two friends smirked at him he hoped his face hadn't blushed too much.

"Okay, so clothes, food and maybe finish off in the arcade?" Danny suggested, quickly trying to change the subject. "What do you think?"

"Sounds good!" The other teenagers agreed.

"Cool. Let's get started then." Danny smiled as they walked further into the mall.

 **()()()**

As they flew through the air Daniel was amazed at what he could see looking down on the world from a birds eye view. To see it was incredible and those moments Daniel felt he was the luckiest boy in the world.

Plasmius kept a close eye on Daniel as they flew, making sure his technique and concentration didn't falter. The older half ghost observed that as Daniel became more engrossed in the view, his anxieties seemed to vanish. It seemed obvious from that that Daniel was a natural at flying.

"Everything alright, Daniel?" Plasmius called to his young charge.

Daniel looked over at Plasmius and grinned. "This is amazing!" He shouted back.

Plasmius rolled his eyes at how easily amused the young half ghost was, but secretly he was relieved that Daniel having to fly was not proving to be an anomaly in his venture to Amity Park.

As the two half ghosts neared the edge of town, Plasmius moved in closer to Daniel and explained that it was time for them to disappear from sight. As Plasmius vanished he took hold of Daniel's wrist, effectively turning him intangible as well. Although Daniel was a little nervous about not being able to see Vlad, he could feel a cold grip around his wrist like a band, signifying that Vlad was there. The older half ghost was also guiding Daniel's direction of flight at this stage.

As the half ghost's discreetly flew just over the building rooftops, Vlad's eye caught sight of city hall. A sickly feeling suddenly tugged in his stomach. A feeling which reminded him of the fact that a teenager was now the mayor in place of him. What an insult that was. Not being able to help himself, Vlad found ended taking a change of direction in his flight plan.

Minutes later, Vlad landed himself and Daniel in his previous home, the mansion he had owned whilst he was mayor of Amity Park. He dropped his intangibility, letting go of Daniel and looked at the state of his old accommodation, a grim look overshadowing his face.

Daniel too observed his strange new surroundings, unsure of why Vlad had brought them here. The building didn't seem very welcoming. The windows had been boarded up and furniture was dusty and had been overturned. There were also pieces of discarded police tape laying on the floor, from when the authorities carried out an investigation on Vlad after his disappearance.

Daniel got a bad vibe from the house, and judging by the look on Vlad's face, he guessed he didn't like it much either. So why where they here?

"Dad?" Daniel murmured, failing to get the older man's attention. Vlad continued to absorb the pathetic state of his once luxurious home.

"Dad?" The boy repeated, louder this time whilst gently tugging the older hybrid's cape.

Vlad's head jerked, as he heard Daniel's voice echo in the hall. Still finding it sweetly strange being labelled 'dad' Vlad turned to face the boy, without saying a word.

"Dad, why are we here?" Daniel asked in confusion. "Is this this were we get food or new clothes?"

"No Daniel." Vlad answered in a soft voice, trying to stifle his sadness. "I…I used to live here."

There was a pause whilst Daniel tried to imagine why Vlad would want to live in a dusty boarded up house, the cabin needed a little work but this place had no charm whatsoever. Vlad on the other hand was trying to subdue his feelings of regret and melancholy. Being in the house was a huge reminder of what he'd lost, but it was also part of the reason why he chose to take the risk and come to Amity Park on this day;

 _Closure._

Deciding not to stay longer than necessary, Vlad made his way to his old master bedroom, Daniel following behind. He flung open the doors and headed for his wardrobe.

"Here's hoping the authorities had the decency to leave my personal belongings alone." Vlad grumbled out loud.

Daniel heard this snarky remark, and was unsure what it meant. However, upon seeing how annoyed his father seemed regarding the matter, he decided against questioning it.

Vlad was somewhat relieved to find his clothes and shoes had remained untouched. He began to pull items out, deciding that he would also need more clothes out in Colorado.

Daniel watched as Vlad searched the wardrobes, seemingly forgetting that the boy was in his company. Daniel decided that it would be best to simply let Vlad get on with his task undisturbed and threw himself on to the bed to wait patiently.

"MEOW!" A loud sound screeched as Daniel landed on the bed.

"AAHH!" Daniel screamed jumping off the bed again, the loud noise having startled him.

Vlad quickly turned around upon hearing the commotion. His scowl quickly vanished when he looked over to the bed and saw a large white cat prowling on top of the quilt.

"Maddie!" Vlad called to the cat walking over to the bed with his arms outreached. The cat instinctively leapt into arms and purred contently. "I can't believe you're still here."

Daniel stared in horror as Vlad stroked the demon creature who had tried to attack him.

"Daniel, don't you want to meet Maddie?" Vlad asked his son, seemingly unaware that the boy thought the cat had attacked him.

Daniel grimly shook his head at Vlad's suggestion.

Vlad shrugged off Daniel's response. "Suit yourself, but I'm not leaving her here. I'm sure no one has been feeding or taking care of Maddie, so she can come back to Colorado in the helicopter with us."

Daniel scowled at this suggestion. But upon seeing Vlad's mood improve dramatically since finding the cat, he decided not to argue.

Still holding Maddie, Vlad glanced over at the clothes he had so far collected from his wardrobes.

"That'll do for now." He muttered to himself before bundling them all under his free arm and turning to Daniel. "Now Daniel, I need to transport Maddie and these clothes back to the helicopter. So I'll be gone a few minutes."

Daniel's red eyes widened with concern. His father was leaving him? He'd never left him alone before, why would he start now by leaving him in this gloomy house? But that wasn't Daniel's biggest fear;

Would Vlad come back for him?

Vlad raised an eyebrow at Daniel. "Don't look so startled my boy. This is the easiest and fastest way of transporting goods back to the helicopter, it has to be done otherwise this journey will have been for none." Plasmius explained.

"How…How long will you be?" Daniel asked quietly.

"As I said, just a few minutes." Vlad replied, "Mainly just to settle Maddie. I don't know why you seem so worried, for goodness sake just stay where you are and no harm will come to you. Honestly Daniel you are rather clingy."

"Gee Plasmius, I wonder if that has anything to do with the fact that I am one day old." Daniel commented dryly folding his arms, "Am I too clingy, or are your standards just a little too high?"

Vlad's jaw dropped. If Vlad hadn't known any better he would have sworn that those words had been spoken by Danny Phantom himself. Evidently, Daniel was showing that he capable of holding his own in a dispute, and at this point Vlad didn't know whether to laugh or reprimand the boy. So he did his best not to do either. Having said that, Vlad was somewhat glad to see that Daniel had a bit of bite in him, as up until this point he'd seemed worryingly soft.

"Yes…Well, we'll discuss that later shall we?" Vlad responded half-heartedly, for once lost for words. "Right, I'm going to transport to the helicopter and-"

"Can't I come too?" Daniel suddenly asked, "I can transform can't I?"

Vlad gently shook his head, realising that leaving Daniel on his own in this strange new place was a big ask, but there was little he could do about it.

"I'm afraid that power is a little too advanced for you at the moment, my boy." Vlad explained truthfully, recalling that Danny Phantom was yet to master the very same power. "I promise I won't be long."

Plasmius then swirled himself around and appeared to vanish along with the clothes and the cat in a purple spiral. Daniel gasped when he saw this, then felt his chest tighten when he realised he was left by himself in this horrible house.

"Okay, just relax. He said he'll be back in a few minutes…just stay where you are." Daniel quietly said to himself.

What was literally a few minutes felt like a lifetime to Daniel, who wasn't used to being on his own and was unsure of himself and everything around him.

However, the purple spiral soon appeared again, bringing back Vlad Plasmius. The older half ghost smiled at the younger hybrid, who stared wide-eyed at him.

"Now then Daniel, we've been in this dreary house long enough. What's say you and I head into town and collect some food and clothes for yourself?" Vlad suggested.

Daniel smiled back, and was relieved to hear that they would be leaving this creepy place. "Yeah, let's go!"

Vlad gently took Daniel by the wrist, turned intangible, and flew both of them out of his previous home.

As they flew higher into the sky, Vlad looked down at the now empty mansion and felt conflicted emotions. He felt satisfied in that he had been in the house and retrieved some of his belongs, this offered up some closure. However he also felt somewhat sad that he would never get to live in what had once been a comfortable home ever again.

As he felt Daniel's small wrist in his grasp, he felt a sickening tug in his stomach. It would have been the perfect home to raise a child, Vlad felt he could have offered Daniel so much more there than in Colorado.

Knowing that all that would never be, Vlad turned his view away from the mansion and focused on the sight of his new destination, the city centre of Amity Park. If he wanted to provide a better life for Daniel, he had to be clever about it, and dwelling on the past and what might have been would not accomplish anything.


	6. Alarm Bells

"Dad! Dad look!" Daniel chirped excitedly, jerking his intangible wrist in Vlad's hand to gain his attention.

Vlad sighed softly at the boy's animated behaviour, he could only imagine the look of amazement that would now be on Daniel's face if he were not intangible. Vlad and Daniel had landed on the busy street less than a minute ago, and they had barely moved as Daniel had been too stunned and over stimulated by his new surroundings to focus on his father's objectives for the day.

"Dad do you see that? What is it?" Daniel babbled on.

"That would be a car, Daniel." Vlad replied in a calm and low voice. "Many people use them as a means of transportation. Now please keep your voice down, someone may hear you."

Daniel wasn't overly worried about whether or not people could hear him. They wouldn't be able to see him, and they were surrounded by so many different people that anyone could be confused for speaking his words. Daniel gaped all around as he took it all in; the buildings, traffic, people, even a dog or two. The world was clearly an incredible place outside of the cabin in the Rockies he only knew.

Vlad knew that Daniel was trying to make sense of this busier environment, so he waited patiently for a minute before he attempted to regain his son's attention to focus on what they had actually come to the city to do.

"Dad, are you still there?" Daniel asked, suddenly frightened that he may lose the older hybrid in such a strange new place.

"Yes, of course." Vlad replied dryly. "Shall we make a start on our tasks, then?"

"I dunno." Daniel mumbled anxiously, "I have that squirmy feeling in my stomach again."

Vlad was relieved that Daniel was unable to see his facial expression at that moment in time, as his face contorted with frustration.

"You have to go to the bathroom? Really Daniel, why didn't you say anything before we left the house five minutes ago?" Vlad demanded.

"I didn't have to go then…" Daniel whined worriedly, "How long do I have to hold it?"

"Not long." Vlad answered firmly, trying to hide his annoyance.

The older hybrid turned around, pulling Daniel with him, and strode into a supermarket. Still intangible, Vlad made their way through the shopping area, to the staff only section, entered the employee bathroom and locked the door. Satisfied that they were well hidden from the public eye, Vlad dropped his intangibility, as did Daniel.

Daniel observed the small bathroom and raised his eyebrow.

"Yes, I know it's not very pleasant." Vlad said, noticing the boy's facial expressions. "But desperate times call for desperate measures."

"What are we doing here?" Daniel asked, giving his father a perplexed look.

"What do you mean?" Vlad demanded, pinching the bridge of his nose in irritation, "I thought you needed to use the bathroom?"

"No I do, I mean why are we in this building?" Daniel asked, as he recalled quickly being dragged past all the stacked shelves and people with trolleys.

"Well, as soon as you're through in here, we are going to pick up some food and other items to take home with us." Vlad explained.

Daniel paused for a second, contemplating what Vlad's intentions were. "I don't understand. How are we going to do that without people seeing us?"

Vlad gave Daniel a sly smile, "Oh, don't you worry about that. Your father has a trick or two up his sleeve…Now hurry up, I'll wait outside the door. Knock three times when you're done and I'll come in and get you. Do not open this door."

Before Daniel could comment Vlad had already turned intangible and had fazed through the door, giving the young teenager privacy.

As Vlad waited outside of the restroom, his eyes scanned around the cold storage room. Everything he needed was right at his fingertips in bulk.

This would be easier than he thought.

Still intangible, Vlad swiftly made his way around each of the walls and scanned over the ceiling, breaking each security camera he came across. He knew it wouldn't be long before the employees in the security department would be alerted to this and would make their way down.

Of course, Vlad had a plan for this as well.

As he destroyed the last camera, he heard a faint knocking. He flew back towards the bathroom to fetch Daniel.

Without speaking a word to the boy, he took his wrist and brought him into the storage unit with him, dropping his intangibility.

"Dad what are you doing? I can see you!" Daniel hissed, unsure why his father was deliberately breaking the stern rule he'd upheld for visiting Amity Park.

"Not to worry my boy, I've made it so no one will see us." Vlad said cunningly, "Now watch as I make everyone in the building disappear…"

Daniel watched in confusion as his father floated up towards the ceiling. The older hybrid hovered next to a small device on the ceiling, he smiled as he lit up a hot ball of ectoplasm and held it directly under the device on the ceiling.

Within a matter of seconds, a loud blaring noise echoed in the large storage room and appeared to be heard throughout the supermarket. Daniel visibly jumped at the harsh noise and was startled by the loudness of it. He could hear the commotion of the other shoppers in the shopping area, even above the racket of the alarm.

Vlad floated back down to the floor and landed next to Daniel, who was covering his ears with his hands.

"What is that noise?" Daniel shouted to his father.

Vlad gently pulled Daniel's hands away from his ears and shouted back, "That's buying us some time to get the supplies we need and not be exposed!"

Daniel watched as Vlad walked over to a stack of empty boxes and rowed them out across the floor. He knew that the large building would be evacuated until the fire services would come and inspect it for safety. Meaning that he and Daniel now had a small window of time to raid the storage unit for supplies, and not draw attention to themselves.

"Alright Daniel, we don't have long. Look through these shelves and if you see something you want or need throw it into these boxes. As they each fill up I'll transport them quickly back to the helicopter. So don't worry if you can't see me, just keep filling the boxes." Vlad explained to the younger hybrid, then swept away to begin the time-dependant task.

Daniel watched blankly for a few seconds before he joined his father. This seemed strange, he'd thought they would have shopped out in the brighter part of the store, like all the other people. But then it would have been difficult to keep a low profile and not be spotted. Daniel decided it would be easier to help his father now, and ask questions later.

Vlad's mind was going a mile a minute, trying to think of all the things necessary to avoid this trip again for a long time. Although food was an obvious priority, Vlad tried to think about other essentials such as toiletries, cleaning products, batteries…cat food.

The older hybrid filled the boxes up quickly with items. He quickly looked over to Daniel who was also filling the boxes up at a fast rate. The younger hybrid stayed focused on food items, as he was mostly unsure what the other products were for and the blaring from the alarm made it difficult to focus.

Vlad decided to stop putting off the inevitable and began to transport the boxes to the helicopter. This took an awful lot of spectral energy, so after the fourth box or so Vlad was pretty breathless. Daniel could see this from a distance, he'd watched his father leave and return every time and it was obvious that it was hard work for the older hybrid.

However, Vlad kept going until his helicopter was packed with about fifteen boxes of food and essentials. It took the hybrid's just over five minutes to complete this 'shopping task.'

Vlad was visibly panting after his final return to the storage unit, Daniel was feeling a little tired too from running back and forth. He'd even flew a bit as well, to pick up speed, and reach higher shelved items.

Daniel slowly approached his father, who looked like he was going to collapse on to the ground. The younger hybrid's red eyes met Vlad's.

"Dad, are you okay?" Daniel loudly asked, hoping he was heard over the alarm.

Vlad grimly nodded and met his son's gaze. "I'm fine. But I think it's time we got out of here."

Vlad took Daniel by the wrist once again, and flew both of them out of the building though the ceiling. The two hybrids were once again intangible, and as they looked down on the site they could see fire engines pulling up outside of the supermarket.

"How do you like that for perfect timing!" Vlad leered.

Daniel didn't say anything, but he had a bad feeling. It would appear that he and his father had caused a lot of commotion during their little 'shopping trip.' Vlad found himself landing him and the boy down in a secluded area of a nearby park. He realised that he would have to take a few minutes to regain his strength.

Vlad dropped down on the grassy surface with a thud, and leaned back against a tree, sighing heavily. Deciding that they were well enough out of sight, and somewhat well 'disguised' in their odd choice of clothing, Vlad reverted to his human form. When Daniel saw this he did the same, relieved to be feeling more like himself again.

Vlad too felt relieved, his body immediately began to relax. Vlad couldn't help but find it ironic, he'd fought against powerful, strong enemies many times in the past and had felt less exhausted. However, he knew that transportation was a demanding power when it came to energy, he'd have to be careful.

Daniel sat next to his father and watched as the older man took deep, rhythmic breaths.

"Are you sure you're okay?" He asked.

"Yes Daniel, I just have to rest a few minutes. Transportation can be sore on a ghost's spectral energy. I'll be fine once my body has had a break." Vlad explained.

Daniel bit his lip with uncertainty, worried for his father's wellbeing. "Maybe we should go home?"

"No. We still need to get you clothes." Vlad said firmly.

"I'll be okay." Daniel responded honestly, "We have clothes at the cabin, and you got some more from your old house. That's plenty. The important thing is we got the food, right?"

Vlad chuckled at the boy's thoughtful suggestion. "Oh Daniel, you can't just be left to wonder around in my clothes, they drown you! You need clothes that fit and are comfortable."

"But you're tired." Daniel argued, "What if it's too much and you can't stay in your ghost form? People might see you."

Vlad turned and looked at the boy with a serious expression. "I know what I'm doing, Daniel. I came here to do specific tasks, and they will get done."

Daniel met his father's gaze. It was clear to him that the small gains from this trip were worth the huge risks in Vlad's eyes for some reason. If he learned nothing else from this outing, Daniel had seen a more stubborn and conniving side to Vlad Masters.

Sensing an uncertainty from Daniel, going by his silence and facial expressions, Vlad decided to try and lighten the mood.

"So what do you think of Amity Park, my boy?" The older hybrid asked, relaxing against the tree once again. "It's a little glimpse into life outside of our quiet little cabin in the woods."

Daniel smiled as he looked out over the picturesque park, and recalled the busy streets he had previously stood in. "It's busy, but I like it." He commented before briefly pausing for a few seconds. He didn't really want Vlad to know that the entire experience had been incredibly fascinating, albeit a little scary for a first time visitor. This outing had only heightened Daniel's curiosity, he already hoped he could see and learn more about the world.

"…I wish I could talk with some of the other people."

Vlad suddenly felt huge pang of guilt when he heard the younger hybrid's comment. He knew that by keeping Daniel out in the cabin with him he was robbing the child of the chance of going to school and making friends, doing normal activities which other teenagers craved.

"Someday maybe, when you're older." Vlad responded with a half-hearted smile. "It's a big world Daniel, take it one step at a time, for goodness sake you're only a day old!"

"So I'm ambitious, nothing wrong with that!" Daniel retorted.

"Yes, you get that from me." Vlad chuckled as he fondly ruffled the boy's thick black and white hair. "I know this hiding and sneaking around must seem strange to you Daniel. Please understand that it's for your safety."

"Is it…because we're half ghosts?" Daniel asked, curious and desperate for some real answers.

"Well, partly. Ghosts have always threatened this town, and for the most part they have a negative rank amongst the townspeople." Vlad replied, trying to be honest yet careful with his words at the same time.

Upon hearing this explanation, Daniel thought hard about what Vlad could have meant by it. Yes they were ghosts, but they were also human. Surely the people wouldn't care…unless…

"Did you ever threaten this town as a ghost, dad?" Daniel blurted out, clearly speaking without thinking.

Vlad had to double take when he heard his son's bold question. "W-what?" He stammered, shocked that little shy Daniel had asked such a thing.

"Uh…It's just that you-you want to stay hidden from everyone." Daniel muttered, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. "Did you do something that frightened them once?"

"Nothing gets past you Daniel." Vlad sighed and lowered his gaze. "However, I would rather not talk about it."

Daniel bit his lip. This put him in a rather nasty position, his curiosity was now sky high. He was desperate to understand his situation and know his father better, the good and the bad. However he was worried that by probing too much he would make Vlad angry, and with all the older hybrid was doing for him, the boy wanted nothing more than to please him.

"I…I don't understand." Daniel mumbled. "Why do you want to hide things from me?"

Vlad scowled, not sure if he was more irritated by Daniel continuing to press the matter, or the fact that the boy sounded genuinely hurt by the man's attempt to block him. Before Vlad could respond, Daniel continued his interrogation.

"Even if you have done something wrong, why don't you just say sorry?" Daniel asked. "You know, try to fix things with the people you've upset and show remorse?"

Vlad couldn't help but sneer at Daniel's innocent suggestion, "Oh Daniel, you sweet naive child, some things are simply beyond apologies I'm afraid."

It was then that Daniel saw, for the first time, a deceptive glint in Vlad's dark blue eyes.

"And if I'm honest, my only true remorse is that what I attempted to do failed. I do not regret my attempts." Vlad continued, noticing the slight disappointment and worry in Daniel's expression. "So there you have it my boy, I'm not going to pretend to be something I'm not. In this world, outside of our secluded little cabin in the Rockies, I am perceived as a villain."

Daniel was shocked into silence by his father's statement. A villain? Daniel tried to think of anything which Vlad had done in his presence, besides stealing from the store, which would suggest he was villainous.

He couldn't think of a thing. In Daniel's mind, that spoke louder than any words could.

"I don't care." Daniel stated.

Vlad raised an eyebrow at this unusual comment. He had expected Daniel to become worried or afraid, which he tended to do when he felt uncertain about something strange or new. "What do you mean?"

"You don't have to tell me what it was you did." Daniel went on to explain, "That's in the past now. Everyone else can think you're bad or evil but I've seen the good in you, and it's good enough for me."

Vlad gave the boy a small smile. What he had said had meant a lot. Daniel had just offered Vlad something huge which he had yearned for his whole life: Acceptance. And by doing this Daniel was basically implying he would take on the good and the bad, a massive obligation from someone so young and naive.

Relaxing his tone and his body once more, Vlad gave a soft sigh, "Ah Daniel, I do not deserve you."

Daniel raised an eyebrow but chose not to respond to this humble comment, for he felt the same way about Vlad. After all, it was obvious that the older hybrid was going to a great deal of trouble simply to provide food and clothing for Daniel, things which Vlad asked nothing in return for.

As the two hybrids continued to rest and enjoy the quiet, each remained silently questioning of how one was so lucky to have received the other.

 **()()()**

Meanwhile inside the city's mall, Danny, Sam, Tucker and Dani were enjoying their day together. Dani had been successful in picking herself out a few new outfits and was already feeling in a much better mood. Danny, Sam and Tucker were simply enjoying spending some time together as friends and having a day to relax, seeing what good it was doing for Dani was an added bonus.

Tucker and Dani were currently queued for some ice cream cones, whilst Danny and Sam sat together on a nearby bench resting their feet.

"Having a good day Sam?" Danny asked Sam with a smile.

"Yeah, it's been a good one." She answered smiling back. "Even better that I don't have to stand and que for ice cream."

Danny chuckled, thinking how it had been nice of Tucker to offer to order his and Sam's ice cream for them, clearly to let them have a few minutes of just the two of them.

Sam couldn't help but notice a large number of people seem to bluster in out of nowhere, all seeming fussed and irritated. She squeezed closer to Danny as they came closer, thinking that some of them may throw themselves done on the bench next to them.

Seeing Sam's reaction, Danny looked up and also noticed all the chattering heightened people. As they came closer again, the voices turned into irritated words.

"…Unbelievable…"

"…Can you imagine…"

"…Ruined my day…"

"…What could have caused…"

Not quite able to piece together what was going on, but could sense the frustration, Danny stood up and approached a tired looking woman with a pram who had appeared along with the crowd. Naturally, Sam followed.

"Hi there," he said pleasantly, "Is everything alright? A lot of people seemed annoyed about something."

The woman sighed heavily whilst pushing her fussy baby back and forth in the pram. "Oh I think most of us have just come here to pick up bits and pieces of shopping, the superstore around the corner was evacuated a while ago because the fire alarm went off." She explained.

"There was a fire?" Danny asked, concerned.

"No!" The woman huffed. "All these fire engines turned up for nothing. Not so much as a piece of burnt toast in the place! Although I heard that some of the security cameras had been knocked off a couple minutes before the alarms went off, so it could have been a trip in the electrics or something."

"Okay, but if it was safe then how come everyone came here and didn't finishing their shopping?" Danny pressed on.

The woman rolled her eyes, Danny and Sam weren't sure if it was about the situation or the crying baby. "Well that's the weird part. When the fire services left the police arrived. Turns out the managers noticed after returning to the building a lot of items had been stolen from their storage units when everyone had evacuated the building. So they just closed up the store for the rest of the day, probably to interrogate the staff."

"Wait, if the building was evacuated then how could anyone get in or out without being seen stealing loads of stuff?"

The woman just shrugged, but her attention was now solely focused on her baby, who needed lifting from the pram. Danny and Sam left her in peace and walked away.

"Danny that sounds weird." Sam commented. "Like you said, no person would be able to pull off that sort of heist in such little time without someone seeing something."

"Had to be a ghost." Danny concluded. "It would be simple enough when using ghost powers."

"Wanna go check it out?" Sam suggested.

Danny glanced over at Dani, who was laughing heartedly with Tucker whilst their ice cream was being scooped up. He knew Sam and Tucker wouldn't mind but they were having a good time too, and so was he.

"No point Sam." He replied dryly. "If it was a ghost, they're long gone now. We'll keep an ear out for anything else. Who knows, they might try to pull something off here, plenty of stores to choose from. Let's hang about here for a while and see what happens, okay?"

Sam was slightly surprised by Danny's off-handed approached, but trusted his judged and decided not to argue it because it had some good validations.

"If you think that's best Danny…" She replied.

"Alright then, let's get our ice cream and hit the arcade." He smiled as the couple began to walk back towards Dani and Tucker.


	7. Actions and Consequences

Vlad was still struggling slightly to catch his breath as he sat Daniel down on a chair within a changing room cubicle of a clothes store within the mega mall. Although his brief respite in the park had helped to refresh some of his energy, it was now obvious that he needed a proper rest to fully rejuvenate himself and be more in control of his powers.

Vlad figured the most quick and painless way to finish up his business in Amity Park would be to fly around the store on his own whilst invisible, and pick up a few items of clothing whilst no one was paying attention. This would be easier without having to constantly supervise Daniel, hence he was told to wait in the changing room. The younger hybrid looked up at his father, making a concerned observation on his laboured breathing, but said nothing.

Daniel was also clearly tired. Although still in control of his powers, he was feeling a growing strain with trying to uphold his invisibility. Another reason why it would be safer to hide the younger hybrid away from the public eye.

"Alright Daniel," Vlad all but sighed in a hushed tone so as anyone nearby wouldn't hear him, "Just stay here, I'll be right back."

"Where are you going this time?" Daniel asked, irritated that he was being left behind again.

"I'm just going to pick out a couple of things for you to wear," Vlad responded coolly, sensing the boy's annoyance. "We can go home after that."

"Do I have to stay invisible in here?"

"I would prefer if you did." Vlad said sternly. "But no one should come in with the cubicle closed over and locked. I will be back in a few minutes. Remember-keep quiet."

Daniel watched as his father once again faded away from his sight and left him alone. As exciting and fascinating as this day had been for him, he was now at the stage where he couldn't wait for it to end, and return to his safe quiet cabin out in the woods.

Vlad couldn't help but think the same thing as he speedily swept around the shop floor, lifting items of clothing which he estimated to be around Daniel's size. Due to exhaustion, the older hybrid was beginning to care less about whether or not his ghostly actions were being noticed by human shoppers. However, those who did happen to see an item of clothing disappear into thin air or mysteriously move on its own accord, simply forced themselves to ignore it or make believe their eyes were playing tricks on them.

The people of Amity Park had learned to choose their battles when it came to ghosts and their activities. So although a couple of individuals picked up on Vlad's actions, they chose to play it safe and keep quiet. It was easier to do that than potentially make themselves a target for a ghost.

Although somewhat dismissive about remaining on the down-low, Vlad still managed to ensure that he was selecting the finest design and quality clothes and shoes for Daniel. The fact that he wouldn't be paying for them meant very little to him, if he had to steal he may as well steal items of decent quality and worth the hassle.

Vlad returned to the changing cubicle where Daniel was waiting within minutes. He scowled when he saw the bored and tired looking boy hunched over on the chair with his head in his hand.

"So much for remaining invisible." Vlad said irritably in a hushed tone.

"I'm tired." Daniel retorted, "And you did say that no one would come in here."

Vlad chose to ignore the mild argument and tossed a bundle of clothes at Daniel.

"Put those on." He ordered, "We can discard the ones you have on. I'll be back in a few minutes."

Daniel rolled his eyes as Vlad speedily left again. At least with Vlad having to deal with the tasks at hand Daniel was slowly beginning to feel less anxious about being left on his own.

The young hybrid casually looked over the clothes Vlad had given him, and obediently swapped them with the ones he had on. True to his word, Vlad had managed to locate clothes which were similar to the oversized get-up which he had previously worn, a well fitted red shirt with a black jacket and casual smart jeans. The outfit suited the teenager perfectly, and the black converse-style shoes Vlad had selected were a nice touch to set it off.

Daniel smiled when he looked in the mirror on the wall and saw what a difference a well-co-ordinated ideal sized outfit could do for his appearance.

"Well, he may be a little eccentric but at least he's got a good eye for clothes." Daniel mumbled to himself, referring to his father.

 **()()()**

In the few moments it had taken for Daniel to re-dress himself, Vlad had zoomed around the clothes shop again and lifted similar items for Daniel. In order to save time he had picked multiple numbers of the same item, he didn't care so long as it would fit Daniel and meant he could go home sooner. It helped that the store had oddly become very empty, and few people were around to notice the ghostly theft at hand.

Once Vlad's arms grew tired of carrying so many clothes, and he was satisfied that they would provide Daniel with a number of changes of clothes, Vlad transported them to his helicopter and then transported himself back to the shop again, to retrieve his son.

When he teleported back to the changing room, Vlad felt a sudden dizziness and involuntarily changed back into his human form. The combination of lack of food and over-exertion of his powers were now starting to have a massive effect on his abilities and strength. Vlad reached out and caught his balance against the wall of the changing room to stop himself from dropping to the floor.

"Dad, you okay?" Daniel gasped, forgetting to whisper.

"Shh!" Vlad hissed, wary of someone hearing them, even though the changing room had been empty the entire time. "I'm fine, I just need to rest for a few minutes."

"Here, sit down." Daniel said, manoeuvring Vlad towards to the chair.

Vlad slowly lowered himself to the seat and rested his head in his hand, groaning slightly. Daniel frowned worryingly, seeing the poor condition the older hybrid was in. If he wasn't able to change into a ghost how would they get home?

Daniel wished there was something he could do, wished he could go out and ask someone for help. But he knew very little about the needs of a ghost, and he had been told that there wasn't a soul out there who would be willing to help his father.

Vlad glanced up and saw the worry in his son's face.

"It's alright Daniel, I've just been transporting myself too often." Vlad explained, "It's a high energy consuming power and as such does not bode well with lack of food."

"I can go out and get you some food" Daniel suggested straight away.

"No! It's too risky." Vlad retorted, feeling certain that Daniel would be caught and exposed. "I'll be fine once I've rested a few minutes. All I need to do is wait until I'll be able to fly again, then we can go back to the helicopter and go home."

After receiving a somewhat reassuring smile, Daniel took his father's word, and calmly sat on the floor beside the chair Vlad was sitting on. Without thinking, Daniel gently patted Vlad's knee, the older hybrid smiled down at the boy amused by his sweet attempt to comfort him.

A few seconds later, faded voices could be heard approaching the empty fitting rooms. Vlad gave Daniel a serious glance and put a finger to his lips. Daniel knew he meant business, as Vlad currently didn't have enough energy to turn invisible.

As the people closed the door behind them, their voices were much clearer.

"Sam, Dani, this is the male changing room you two really shouldn't be in here." An all too familiar voice spoke.

Vlad's eyes widened in horror, he'd recognise that voice anywhere.

"Yeah right!" Sam scoffed, "Like that ever stopped you from creeping in the girl's locker room! There's been alleged ghost activity here, so the gender specifications currently do not apply to me and Dani."

Vlad silently cursed himself. Ghost activity. Someone had obviously reported his invisible antics and now Danny and his friends were investigating it.

There was nothing he could do. They were going to find him.

He tapped Daniel on the shoulder. "Turn invisible." He whispered. "No matter what you see or hear, do not show yourself."

Daniel did not move but did as Vlad had requested, changing into his ghost form and made himself invisible.

"I don't get it, why would a ghost hunt a clothes store?" Dani asked.

"Hey there's a ghost who obsesses over boxes, these guys will go after anything." Tucker commented, "And maybe what's been going on in here could have something to do with that weirdness at the supermarket from earlier."

As the four of them walked and became closer to the cubicle were Vlad was locked in, he pulled off his hat, glasses and raincoat, deciding that his mediocre disguise would not help him here. Daniel silently watched, unsure of why Vlad was doing this.

Noticing the occupied cubicle, Danny cautiously knocked the door.

"Hello? Anyone in there?" He called.

With a scowl on his face, knowing he would never forgive himself for the carelessness which put him in this situation, Vlad unlocked and opened the cubicle door.

The four teenagers on the other side gasped when he revealed himself.

"Only me." Vlad growled menacingly.

Vlad stood before Danny, his 'daughter' and their friends, his blue eyes locked in on Danny's. Vlad had never felt such anger and hatred swell up inside him, it was difficult to believe that he was looking at the same Danny he'd longed to train and mentor as his own. Those feelings of hopes had very much burned away, for all Vlad saw before him now was Jack Fenton's son. The boy who persistently taunted him and shut down all of attempts to be happy.

Danny's eyes quickly glowed green and he immediately transformed, preparing for a battle. In most circumstances Danny would ask questions first, attack later but Vlad Masters no longer had this luxury. Danny didn't like Vlad from the beginning, he grew to hate him and view him as an enemy, but after Vlad's last stunt Danny was almost ashamed to admit that he didn't care if the older half ghost lived.

Danny was now going to make his feelings about Vlad very clear.

Dani had a similar reaction to her 'cousin' in relation to her ghostly abilities. She knew her instinct had been right, she knew deep down that Vlad had survived. Seeing him again re-ignited the anger she had been harbouring over her father. She was eager to have her pound of flesh.

Danny threw the first punch, slamming Vlad back into the wall of the cubicle. Vlad could do nothing to defend himself, his energy was still diminished. Daniel watched in horror as the boy who had attacked his father, and his associates, approached Vlad again.

Noticing that Vlad wasn't fighting back, and hadn't even turned into his ghost half, Danny paused for a moment before continuing to attack his enemy. It took Dani all of her willpower, but she too restrained herself from laying into Vlad.

"You have a lot of nerve coming back here, Plasmius." Danny growled, his voice lined with hatred.

"At least now justice can be served." Tucker said with a serious tone, bringing out his cell phone, "I'm calling the cops."

"You really think the cops will be a match for this guy, Tucker?" Sam reasonably pointed out.

Dani understood why Sam doubted the police's ability against Vlad, however like Danny, she was currently wondering why the older hybrid had not yet transformed to at least defend himself.

"They still need to know he's here." Tucker argued. "I mean they've been trying to track him for weeks."

"Speaking of him being here, why in a clothes store changing room?" Sam wondered out loud, her eyebrow raised and her hands on her hips.

Vlad managed to compose himself again from the assault, and looked up at the group of teenagers with an irritated demeanour.

"Oh I wouldn't trouble the authorities for this matter." The man said with false charm. "I do not plan on staying in Amity Park."

"You had no business coming back here in the first place!" Danny shouted. "What do you want this time? Haven't you done enough damage?"

"Don't waste your time Danny, he's not happy unless he's making someone miserable." Dani said with spite.

Vlad looked at Dani and gave her a sly smile, which sent a shiver down her spine. It troubled her to know that he still had this horrid effect on her.

"Don't worry Dani, I'll be sure he doesn't hurt anyone ever again." Danny told her with gritted teeth, his hands glowing, preparing for another hit.

Vlad braced himself as he watched the energy gather around Danny's fist, but what happened next, took them all by surprise.

As Danny raised his fists to deliver the blow, Daniel suddenly appeared in his ghost form, stood in between the two hybrids and knocked Danny back with an attack of his own. The other three teenagers stared opened mouthed at this new young ghost who had defended Vlad.

"Leave him alone!" Daniel yelled at them all, his red eyes glowing and anger coating his voice for the first time ever.

Vlad's eyes widened in horror as he'd seen what Daniel had done. He quickly grabbed the boy's jumpsuit and pulled him back away from the other teenagers, as they still posed as a threat. However, Vlad was secretly very pleased had the determination and fierceness which Daniel had just demonstrated, clearly a natural with a sneak attack.

Daniel didn't break his menacing stare at the ghost who had hurt his father, despite having been forced to retreat. Even though still unsure of his own capabilities, Daniel knew he couldn't just sit back and silently watch as his father was being attacked. However he had a gut feeling that Vlad would be very angry with him later for disobeying orders, but this was something which he had to put to the back of his mind for now.

As Danny re-orientated himself, he pushed himself off the ground and stared at Daniel…slowly coming to the realisation that the young ghost had an odd resemblance to himself.

Danny's vision darted between Vlad and Daniel for a few seconds, but he eventually locked in on Vlad, who was also coldly meeting his gaze.

"You sick twisted pathetic low-life." Danny growled in disgust. "You cloned me again!"

Sam and Tucker stared at Daniel, individually comparing the appearances of the two ghosts, and believing Danny's accusation to be correct. Dani glared angrily at Vlad, even though his focus was far from being on her. She didn't know whether she felt furious or hurt by this revelation, but there was a definite mixture of both brewing inside of her.

Daniel continued to glare at the boy he had attacked, but silently deep in thought. He had previously worked out that he was also half ghost, as was one of the girls as he had saw them transform. He recalled Vlad telling him that his DNA was made of Vlad's and another half ghost. This had to be him, but why had he attacked Vlad?

"Yes. I did." Vlad admitted with a triumphant smirk. "But we won't be staying long enough for you two to get to know one another!"

Vlad suddenly vanished, and mere seconds later so did Daniel. Vlad's ghost half had recharged enough to allow him an opportunity to escape, and take Daniel with him.

"NO!" Danny screamed in anger when his nemesis disappeared along with the new clone. "Get back here Plasmius! At least have the guts to face me, you coward!"

"Danny, calm down!" Sam said worriedly, placing her hands gently on his shoulders, attempting to soothe him.

"How could he do this?" Dani quietly snarled under her breath, secretly fighting back the tears of frustration.

She had been so sure that Danny, Valerie and herself had put a stop to Vlad's cloning trials when they had destroyed his research and equipment during their last encounter. She had obviously been wrong, and now Vlad had finally produced the perfect clone which she could never be. Dani knew that was what hurt the most, especially as there had once been a time when she had believed him when he'd told her that she was his 'greatest creation.'

"That's it, I'm contacting the police." Tucker said, beginning to jam the buttons on his cell, "The city's not safe with that guy around again."

Danny reached out and snatched the phone from Tucker, much to his friend's surprise.

"Hey!"

"Will you forget about your 'mayoral duties' for five minutes?" Danny snapped, "We need to find him, we need to end this once and for all!"

"Danny give me back the phone, we'll have a better shot at finding him and taking him down if we call in reinforcements." Tucker explained.

"He's right Danny," Sam added, "That's the great thing about everyone knowing you're half ghost, you're not on your own anymore. People want to help."

"People don't know what he's capable of!" Dani argued, recalling how scarily dangerous Vlad could really be.

"Dani he tried to become ruler of the world, pretty sure everyone gets that Vlad is a pretty serious threat." Sam retorted.

"Sam's right." Tucker intervened. "The sooner we seek back-up, the sooner we can deal with this."

"No!" Danny snapped, "He's doing this to get to me, I'm going to take him down once and for all and I'm not putting anyone else in danger to do it."

"No way Danny, I'm as much involved in this as you are." Dani stated, "We've taken Vlad down together before, let's do it again!"

Danny paused for a few seconds, but seeing the hurt and determination in her eyes he eventually nodded to his 'cousin,' realising that these recent events were personal to her as well. And she was right, they made a good team, and together they stuck a pretty good chance at taking on Vlad…and potentially this new clone.

"Are you two insane?" Sam reprimanded, "You can't just take off to fight one of the biggest villain in the history of Amity Park!"

"Just watch us!" Dani angrily yelled at Sam before she flew off.

Danny was about to follow her when Sam grabbed his arm.

"Danny don't be so stubborn!" Sam scolded, "I get you're angry but don't do anything reckless, if we come up with a plan we're more likely to succeed."

"She's right, dude." Tucker agreed, "Now, can I have my phone back?"

"Look you guys, I get that you want to help." Danny sighed, "But this is something Dani and I need to figure out for ourselves."

"But-" Sam began to argue, before being cut off when Danny yanked his arm free.

"I'm going to find Dani, then we are going to take care of Vlad and that new clone of his." Danny stated coldly.

Before either of his friends could say another word, Danny flew away to meet his 'cousin' and form a seek out and destroy mission.


	8. The weakness game

"Oomph!" Daniel groaned as Vlad roughly flung him on to a chair in the helicopter, then sat himself down at the controls to take off.

The older hybrid had barely gotten the two of them safely returned to helicopter, as his spectral energy was now truly drained, Vlad was exhausted and anger pulsed through his veins as he summoned up the strength to focus enough to control the helicopter to fly himself and Daniel back to the Rockies.

Daniel silently watched as Vlad went through the motions of operating the controls, it was almost robot-like. The younger hybrid sensed a change in Vlad's demeanour, the man had not spoken a word to him sense the confrontation with Danny at the mall, and Daniel had a gut instinct that it would currently be unwise to attempt to start a conversation with him.

As the helicopter began to lift from the ground, Daniel heard a soft 'meow' and looked down to see Maddie delicately pondering around at his feet. He warily stared at the cat for a few seconds until she eventually jumped up on lap and rested her head down. Although Daniel had previously been cautious of the cat, he wasn't sure she troubled him quite so much at this moment. When she had looked up at him it was almost as though she was communicating a sense of empathy with him, a sense that seemed to tell him that she'd seen this behaviour from Vlad before, and that she knew what it felt like.

So Daniel let the cat get comfortable on his lap, and after a few minutes he build up the courage to gently stroke her. She purred with gratitude. Daniel decided that maybe he had misjudged Vlad's pet and that maybe he could indeed get used to having her around, especially during moments such as this.

Vlad glanced over at Daniel with his still permanent scowl on his face for second or two, and watched as his son seemingly started to bond with his beloved cat. He still never said a word, and returned his focus to flying the helicopter. A task which was rather difficult given his current physical state.

 **()()()**

What was in reality a short trip felt like hours for the two hybrids before they reached the cabin. Maddie was unconcerned as she had lay comfortably on Daniel's lap and slept the majority of the flight.

As the helicopter landed Vlad had still not uttered so much as a word to Daniel, and had barely given him so much as a few glances. Daniel on the other hand had constantly watched his father and was growing more and more anxious as he sensed the man's fury. What was worse he was unsure what Vlad was angry about, if it was that nasty run-in with the other half-ghosts or if it was with him. Daniel was feeling very uneasy due to the fact that he had not only broken Vlad's rule about staying invisible, but he had used his ghost powers to attack the other ghost boy.

Once the helicopter was secure and powered down, Vlad let out a sigh. He was relieved to be back at his cabin in one piece, now he just had the other concerning matter of Danny Phantom to deal with. Vlad turned his head and looked at Daniel, both he and Maddie were staring back, anxiously awaiting the older hybrid's next actions.

Vlad abruptly undid his safety belt and stood up. He looked at the boxes of food and bundles of clothing he had obtained from Amity Park scattered across the floor of the helicopter. The sight of them only fuelled Vlad's anger, even in success he had failed. Everything he needed and aimed to retrieve was sitting right in front him, too bad it had cost him his chance at living a quiet and peaceful life.

The man knew it wouldn't be long before Danny would try to find him, and the cabin would be one of the first places he'd look. Still, he didn't see the point in letting the stolen food go bad and rot inside the helicopter. So reluctantly, he lifted a box and proceeded to carry it inside.

Still worried and confused, Daniel saw what his father was doing. Hoping for a chance at redemption and to try and lighten the man's mood, he quickly got up and helped to carry everything else inside. Maddie too followed the hybrids indoors, but simply found a comfortable chair to lay on, away from the negative and cold energy emitting from the older hybrid.

Once the helicopter was empty of the goods and everything was put away, Vlad sat down at the table in the kitchen, placing his head despairingly in his hands. Daniel sat down just opposite Vlad, and when the man eventually met his gaze Daniel gave him a weak smile.

Vlad merely sighed, lowered his gaze again and shook his head.

Daniel's smile quickly faded and he hung his head. He disparately wanted his father to talk to him.

"I'm sorry." Daniel mumbled sadly, "I shouldn't have disobeyed you."

In response to Daniel's apology, Vlad sat up straight and looked directly at the younger hybrid.

"You have no idea how sorry you will be, my boy." Vlad said darkly. "But it should be me apologising to you for what's about to come, I've brought it all on us with my careless behaviour in Amity Park. As usual, I became too over-confident in a high pressured situation"

Of course, Daniel did not understand the seriousness of the situation, as he did not know the history between Danny and Vlad.

"W-what's going to happen?" He asked nervously.

Vlad sighed, but his serious expression remained. "That boy you attacked, he will most likely be turning up here quite soon. Possibly along with those other interfering brats. I don't know exactly what will happen Daniel, but it will not end well for me. It never does."

Daniel nervously began to bite his lip as Vlad continued to say,

"I don't know what will become of you either Daniel, but it's going to be difficult for me to protect you. They will be relentless now that they know you exist…you should have stayed invisible!"

Daniel visibly jerked when he heard the sharpness in Vlad's voice when he spoke that last sentence. The guilt suddenly overwhelming him.

"I couldn't just let him hurt you!" He wailed in defence.

"It's not your place to defend me!" Vlad shouted, "There was a reason I wanted to keep you hidden and now thanks to your intrusion that has become a reality!"

Daniel's eyes welled up and lip began to quiver slightly.

Vlad sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with frustration…and guilt. He was angrier with himself rather than with Daniel, it was all too easy to take it out on the boy.

"Look, I appreciate that all of this is not your fault." Vlad said in a much calmer voice, "If anything, I should be so lucky with just how loyal you already are to me. You simply do not understand how serious all of this is."

"I-I really am sorry." Daniel whispered, "Is there something I can do to fix it?"

Vlad shook his head sadly, "No…But Daniel, if the worst does happen, and if you are offered an out clause-take it. Do not stay loyal to me if it means being dragged down with me."

Daniel stared unhappily at his father, trying to make sense of what he was hearing. "I don't understand…What do you mean if the worst happens?"

"If they…If they try to take me away, let them. Play dumb, let them believe that I tricked you or misguided you. Daniel do not stand in their way, they will ruin your life if you try."

"But-But my life will be ruined if you're not in it." Daniel whimpered.

"My boy, you don't yet know what it means to live." Vlad sighed sadly. "Please just listen to what I am telling you, and be mindful of it. All I want is what's best for you, you do know that?"

Daniel simply nodded in response, fearful that if he tried to speak he would burst into tears. He then reached across the table and took his father's hand, squeezing it as though he never wanted to let go.

 **()()()**

"Dani, wait up!" Danny shouted when he caught sight of his 'cousin' soaring just ahead of him across the sky.

Dani eventually paused and gave Danny a moment to catch up with her. She frowned at him when he reached her.

"What took you so long?" She mumbled irritably.

"I was talking to Sam and Tucker."

"What else is new? Come on, we need to go. I know exactly where Vlad could be hiding, follow me!" Dani urged, preparing to take off again.

"Dani wait!" Danny insisted, grabbing her arm, "We can't just go chasing after Vlad without some sort of plan. If we do this the right way we could have him locked away and out of our lives forever."

"Uh! Danny we don't have time for plans, the longer we hold off the more chance he has of getting away again!"

"Where's he gonna go? The fruitloop is wanted in every country all over the world, anyone who sees him will take him down." Danny reminded her.

"Not before I take him down first!" Dani snapped. "You can wait about here and make plans all you want, I'm going to Colorado to finish him!"

"Dani do you hear yourself? You want to kill Vlad, have you lost your mind? We're the good guys Dani, we don't just kill." Danny reprimanded her.

"I didn't mean kill! Just-you know-mess him up a bit."

"Uh-huh, 'mess him up a bit?' Dani, that right there is how Vlad has always got the upper hand in the past, he works out people's flaws and weakness' and he exploits them. You try to go at him without a strategy in mind, he will beat you." Danny reasoned.

"He won't beat _us!_ Danny we can take him, we can support each other to cut out any flaws in combat and anyway I don't have any weakness! Not anymore" Dani argued, doing a backwards flip in mid-air to prove her physical capabilities.

"I don't mean physical flaws…Dani don't you get it? He plays on people's emotions, and you're wrong when you say you don't have any weaknesses...Vlad is your weakness." Danny calmly explained.

Dani's green eyes glowed angrily at Danny's suggestion. "You have no idea what you're talking about! I hate him, how can he be my weakness?" She screamed.

"Because, he used to be your dad." Danny said. Speaking those words made him feel sick, but he needed to do something to make Dani understand and think rationally about the situation. He also knew this was a confrontation Dani had put to the back of her mind and had been avoiding for a long time.

"Don't you dare say that!" Dani yelled.

"Look I'm not trying to hurt you or make you angry." Danny reasoned, "I hate the guy too and want him gone as much as you do which is why I'm agreeing with you and want to act fast. But Dani we need to be clever, he'll expect us to find him and just attack, that'll be what he's prepared for."

"If that's the case let's give him what he wants!" Dani snarled.

"No. I think we should find him and try to talk to him, figure out what he's doing." Danny suggested.

"What? Danny get real, he's not just gonna sit us down and tell us all his evil plans over a cup of tea!" Dani sneered in disgust.

"No, but he won't be expecting us to be calm and relaxed about the whole situation. It will throw him off guard, and make him easier to attack." Danny explained.

"That's stupid. Vlad will never fall for that! I'm going now Danny, and I'm going to kick some butt when I get there. I don't care if you help me or not!" Dani shouted before flying off at high speed.

"Dani stop! Wait!" Danny called after. Although at this point he knew he was beyond the point of talking sense into Dani.

 **()()()**

As the evening grew darker both Vlad and Daniel sat in front of the fire, too miserable and worried to enjoy what could have been a nice relaxing atmosphere. Neither hybrid had said much since their discussion earlier. Both tired and feeling ill with worry, they hoped that Vlad's prediction would not be true.

However, when Daniel eventually gasped and let out a small wisp of blue air, Vlad cringed, knowing it was time.

"What was that?" Daniel cried in confusion, looking to his father for an explanation.

Vlad didn't get the chance to respond, as Dani Phantom smashed in the window of the sitting room with such force that the wind caused from the impact caused the fire to die out.

Dani locked eyes on Vlad, her anger levels continuing to rise up. Vlad met her gaze, but held a disinterested expression.

"Oh, it's you." He commented dryly.

Daniel stared at his father in surprise. Surely after everything he had told him earlier he would show some sort of concern regarding this intruder?

"Yeah it's me!" Dani yelled, "And you're going down!"

Vlad laughed cruelly at Dani's threat, and easily blocked an ecto-blast she thrashed towards him.

This only made Dani angrier, and she prepared herself for a more up-close and personal battle with Vlad.

"I swear, I will make you regret the day you created me!" She said, her voice filled with hatred.

Vlad merely shrugged his shoulders and emotionlessly replied, "You accomplished that a long time ago."

Daniel stood warily in the background, and watched the negative back and forth between his father and the ghost girl. What did she mean when she said Vlad would regret the day he created her?

Dani was about to throw herself into an attack with Vlad, until Danny flew in and prevented her from doing so.

"Dani stop!" He yelled, grabbing her around the torso.

"Let go of me Danny!" She screamed in protest.

Vlad raised his eyebrows at the exchange between the two half ghosts, as he walked over and stood next to an even more confused Daniel.

"She definitely gets her temperament from you, Danny." Vlad mused aloud as he watched the two of them struggle.

Danny glared at Vlad as he fought to restrain his 'cousin.' "Stop it, Dani. We'll try this my way!" He whispered sternly into her ear.

Dani finally broke free from Danny's grasp, and he gave her a warning expression. So she folded her arms and turned her back on all of them, deciding to let Danny try his method for a few minutes.

Vlad, who still hadn't transformed and still had an amused expression on face, calmly awaited for Danny to make the first move. Danny lowered himself until he was stood on the floor. He took an uncomfortable breath as he faced Vlad and his new clone.

Tired of waiting, Daniel made the first move.

"What is it you both want?" He asked clearly.

All three of the other half ghosts looked at Daniel, none of them had expected him to speak. Although after the incident at the mall, Danny was sure he could be counted as a threat.

"Okay, look," Danny stated, "Plasmius I have no idea what you are doing back here, and I have even less idea about how you managed to clone me again, but whatever it is you're up to I'm not gonna let you hurt anybody again."

"Hm, and what makes you think I intend on hurting anybody, my boy?" Vlad asked with a false innocent tone.

"Try your track record." Dani snapped. "You don't care about anyone but yourself!"

"You're wrong!" Daniel snapped back at the fiery ghost girl. Knowing that Vlad did indeed care about him, he wasn't going to listen to such slander.

"Daniel, stay out of this." Vlad quickly warned his son.

"Daniel?" Danny cried indignantly, "You weirdo, you named that thing after me?"

"How did you even create him in the first place?" Dani demanded, "We destroyed the cloning chamber."

"You never did appreciate my greatness and determination, Danielle." Vlad smirked.

"So what, you replaced me with him?" She cried flinging her arm out, gesturing at Daniel, "And just what makes him so much better than me, huh?"

Danny cringed inwardly, knowing that Vlad now had the fuel he needed to emotionally burn Dani. It was all so clear now why she had been so upset earlier, and Danny had found it surprising that she had been angrier than him.

"Well Danielle, where do I start?" Vlad smirked menacingly, "I suppose the fact that his gender didn't default like yours is a nice bonus…But the bigger aspects of why he is better than you would be that he has a much more refreshing, original personality in comparison to yours…Oh and the fact that he has already proven himself incredibly loyal, a trait you threw away after one encounter with one of my enemies, of all people!"

"You were prepared to sacrifice me for an unfinished clone!" Dani interrupted with anger. "How was I supposed to be loyal to someone who would do such a thing?"

"You betrayed me simply because I raised my voice at you, and you let Danny Phantom pollute your view of me and warp your simple little mind!" Vlad snapped back, "I knew you were capable of performing a simple overshadowing task, you simply didn't trust me. Believe it or not, girl, I had every intention of stabilising you, until you turned your disloyal little back on me!"

Dani froze and was stunned into silence by Vlad's revelation. Danny saw what Vlad was doing and desperately tried to rectify the situation.

"Dani he's lying!" Danny warned. "Come on, why was he trying to make another clone if he planned to keep you?"

Vlad sneered at Danny's suggestion, and attempt to throw him off guard. "Did it never occur to you that I would have liked rearing a son and a daughter? That I was capable of caring for both? Or perhaps you forget the time when I tried to turn Jasmine against your family, and adopt her as my own? You do not have all the facts Danny, and the fact of the matter is if Danielle had not been so foolish and untrustworthy, I could have given her a great life."

Daniel was shocked by what he was hearing, there had been other clones before him? The ghost girl was a clone too, didn't that make her his sister? Daniel looked up at the once angry and threatening girl and suddenly felt sorry for her, as tears now welled in her eyes and threatened to fall down her face.

"Perhaps you recall the very reason I attempted to clone you in the first place, Danny Phantom?" Vlad went on to say, "With every encounter we had you became more and more of a nuisance. I knew there was a way to get you without actually having to _deal_ with you. Since Danielle's creation, I have further improved on the cloning process."

Vlad paused momentarily, to lock eyes with Danny and put a confident hand on Daniel's shoulder.

"Daniel here is not a simple, mere clone of you. His genetic make-up contains a mixture of your DNA along with my own, meaning he has the best of you and the best of me. He truly has the potential to be one of the most powerful ghosts in existence."

It was now Danny's turn to freeze and be shocked into silence.

Vlad's eyes narrowed at the boy, "I told you I would make you obsolete."

Danny's eyes glowed with fury, "You're a monster! No matter how many of these pathetic clones you make, none of them will replace me. They're nothing but sick twisted lab experiments you use as pawns!"

Daniel shuddered slightly at this cruel remark, but Vlad was so glad Danny had said it. He smirked, and nodded his head in the direction of Danielle so as Danny would look at her. Danny gasped when he saw her broken expression, and tears streaming down her face.

"Is that what you think of me?" She whispered.

"Dani-no! I…I" Danny stammered, but before he could attempt to take back his hurtful statement, Dani flew off, abandoning her mission to 'take Vlad down.'


	9. Who's DNA is this?

As Danny shouted after his 'cousin' who had apparently vanished after hearing his unfortunate choice of words, Vlad smiled and sat down on an armchair, as though he found the entire ordeal relaxing. Daniel remained stood beside him, but was really very confused and upset by what he had already seen and heard.

Realising that Dani was long gone and unlikely to come back or respond to him, Danny turned and glared at Vlad. "You really are evil."

Vlad merely raised his eyebrows in amusement at Danny's insult. "Funny, but it was you who said the truly hurtful things…Who's really the evil one in this situation, dear boy?"

"Forget it, Plasmius." Danny remarked, "You're not gonna get under my skin. So what is your deal? Why were you in Amity Park today? How are even still alive?"

"Aren't you going to go after her?" Vlad probed with false concern, "She did seem very upset you know."

"Dani will be fine, she's stronger than you realise." Danny said knowingly. "I came here to talk to you, and I will. So, why were you in Amity Park today?"

"Would you even believe me if I told you?" Vlad sighed irritably, knowing that he had already been judged guilty of whatever crime Danny had convicted him of in his mind.

"Try me."

"Hm…Daniel?" Vlad said, gaining the youngest hybrid's attention.

"Yes?" He responded immediately, turning his gaze to Vlad.

"Tell Danny over there, why were we in Amity Park today?" Vlad prompted the boy.

Daniel looked at Danny, who stared back. It was strange seeing a resemblance of himself in the other boy, but for the time being he was simply going to have to put that aside.

"We-we had no food." Daniel began to explain, feeling uncomfortable with being pulled into the conversation. "And I had no clothes of my own. We went to Amity Park just to get the things we needed."

Danny raised an eyebrow, not sure if he believed this new half ghost or not.

"Really? Food and clothes?" Danny retorted. "You're trying to tell me that's the only reason you were in Amity Park, Vlad?"

"I don't expect you to believe me, Danny." Vlad mused, "And to be honest from the minute I clapped eyes on you in that clothes store I knew this would happen. How long do I have before the authorities and Guys in White show up to incarcerate me?"

"You don't deserve anything less, Plasmius!" Danny hissed uncaringly. "You should have to pay for all the wrong you've done."

"Oh Danny, has charma not already collected my debt?" Vlad droned.

Danny laughed bitterly at Vlad's response. "You're actually going to play at being the victim? Please, the only way you have a prayer of being let off easy is by pleading insanity!"

"So you have contacted the authorities then?" Vlad asked, choosing to ignore Danny's insult regarding his mental health.

"I haven't, but there's a good chance that Amity Park's mayor has." Danny said dryly.

"Ah yes, the bespectacled teenager." Vlad droned, "I always knew that was a backwater town… So you came here more of less alone and unarmed?"

Vlad was surprised at this, if it were true. Would Danny really be foolish enough to try to attack him and really on his own skill to win? Or was there another game plan at play here?

"I want to take you down myself!" Danny fiercely replied, his eyes glowing green to empathise his point.

Vlad sighed with sincere remorse. He knew that Danny harboured a lot of anger towards him, and was annoyingly keen for justice. However he was concerned that if Danny choose to act on his threat, there would be bad outcome for everyone involved.

"Alright Danny Phantom, I'm going to level with you here." Vlad said seriously, "All I want is to live out my life in this cabin. I have no intentions of doing anything malicious to anybody, I just want peace and quiet and the opportunity to make a pleasant life for Daniel."

Danny raised an eyebrow, he wasn't buying any of it. His attention turned to the clone for a few brief seconds, who had remained silent since giving his explanation for being in Amity Park. Danny just wished he would leave. He could barely process how angry he was that Vlad had created another clone of him…and had suggested that he made Danny obsolete by intertwining his own DNA.

"And another thing, Danny," Vlad continued, "if you choose to make good on this threat I would like to remind you that I am still the superior half-ghost. Yes you've come a long way since we met, but I am still stronger and more powerful. If you attack me, I'll be forced to defend myself…and going to extreme measures does not faze me."

"Is that supposed to scare me, Plasmius?" Danny leered.

"Just leave, Daniel. Leave me in peace and go home." Vlad said irritably.

"I am home." Daniel commented, looking at his father in confusion.

Danny chuckled nastily at his cloned counterpart. He figured that if the situation wasn't so twisted, it would almost be funny.

"He was talking to me, _clone_." Danny sneered, "The fruitloop made you a copy of and named you after me because he is _obsessed_ with me and my family. To the point that it's just sick as a matter of fact. You're just a mindless cog in the crazy machine."

Daniel took a daring step forward and his eyes menacingly glowed red at Danny.

"I am not mindless." Daniel snarled, "We have asked to be left in peace, so take your leave!"

Danny carefully observed Daniel, and heard what he was saying. He was clearly hostile, and had potentially been brainwashed by Vlad.

But so had Dani been when he first met her…

Danny was furious at the thought of this clone's existence, but he had given Dani a chance and it had been the right choice. Would it be fair to condemn this boy just because of he was born from a cloning chamber?

Despite his better judgement, Danny as usual decided to do the right thing, and tried to reason with this new clone.

"Look I appreciate what you're going through, I do." Danny said to Daniel sympathetically, using his hands in a calming gesture, "But you don't understand what he's like. Before you were born Vlad's done so many bad things and has hurt a lot of people. You see that girl who just left? She's a clone, just like you, and Vlad used her and now he couldn't care less about her. I don't want you to go through what she had to go through."

Vlad considered intervening and putting a stop to Danny trying to influence his naïve charge, but he knew that Daniel would have to learn to hold his own eventually, and even though this was a high pressured situation it was a perfect test.

So the older hybrid decided to sit back and watch the exchange.

Danny observed as Daniel silently processed the information which he had been given. He stared intensively at Danny's eyes, as though trying to figure the ghost boy out.

"I know it's all hard to believe, especially as all you've ever had is Vlad," Danny continued. "But he's not a good guy, only bad things will happen if you stay with him. Please let me help you."

Daniel froze for a second. He suddenly remembered what Vlad had told him earlier, _'if you are offered an out clause-take it. Do not stay loyal to me if it means being dragged down with me.'_

Daniel felt sick from the inner conflict in his mind. Was this the out-clause Vlad had referred to? If it was Daniel didn't want it, he didn't like or trust this threatening half-ghost and just wanted him to leave, so he and his father could go back to living a relaxing life in the cabin.

"If you really want to help, you will go." Daniel said coolly, "We don't want any trouble."

Danny sighed at this response, and glared at Vlad who was smirking in amusement. He loved it when Danny didn't get his way.

"This isn't funny, Plasmius." Danny snapped, "You seriously want to trap this kid here and teach him to hate the world and everyone in it just like you? What is the point?"

"My business is my own." Vlad replied nonchalantly.

"You do realise that you will hunted after now that we know you're back, you will eventually be imprisoned." Danny warned, "Whatever deluded fantasy you have about living a happy country life in a forest with a cloned kid will never be a reality!"

Vlad jerked at the harsh words spoken by the teenager. Yes, they had been threatening and somewhat insulting, but what had really stung Vlad was that they sounded…true. Had he really sugar coated his reality? Did he create Daniel simply to bring happiness and validation into his own life without consideration of the child's?

Daniel noticed Vlad's silence, and when he turned he could see a slight expression of dismay on the man's face. Why wasn't he discrediting the boy's words?

Angry, Daniel turned back around and glared menacingly at Danny.

"Why don't you just leave?" He yelled, "Why are you here? Why are you saying these horrible things? Just go away we've done nothing wrong!"

Danny was taken aback by Daniel's anger, but he could also see worry in his expression. He was struggling to validate his point with the clone, he'd wished Dani had stayed, thinking that she may have been able to talk sense into him.

Danny was about to speak, but a noise stopped him, he could hear something that sounded like a mixture of hovering and roaring engines.

Daniel and Vlad heard it too, but unlike Danny they didn't know what it was.

Seconds later, the wall with the window which Dani had previously broken was completely demolished with force. It had been crashed through by the Fenton Spector Speeder.

Vlad immediately jumped off his seat, completely horrified by what was happening. He knew what this meant; he was about to be assaulted and or detained by Jack Fenton.

Daniel, who was closer to the wall which was coped in, had nearly been knocked down. At the last second he was pulled out of the way and steadied by Danny, who had predicted this outcome. Daniel was so terrified by the large noisy vehicle that he didn't even attempt to break away from Danny's hold.

Danny hadn't known that help was on the way, although he knew the chances of Sam and Tucker keeping the incident at the mall under wraps were slim. As the roar of the rockets died down and he kept a grip on Daniel, he waited for the inevitable.

"Freeze scumbag!" Cried Jack Fenton as he leaped out of the Spector Speeder, armed with a very powerful ecto-ray gun.

Maddie quickly followed in pursuit, equally armed. Within seconds of the crash, Vlad was being threateningly held at gunpoint by the Fenton's.

Vlad didn't like it, but there was literally nothing he could do. But rather than put his hands up in surrender to Jack Fenton, he folded them across his chest, to show he had no intention of using them in combat.

At the same time, Sam and Tucker jumped out of the machine and ran towards Danny.

"Danny!" They both cried, equally concerned for their friend.

"Danny are you alright?" Sam asked.

"Yeah dude, we were worried when you just took off like that." Tucker added, looking around the destroyed room. "Hey, where's Dani?"

Their concern for their friends almost left them blind to the fact that Danny was lightly restraining the ghost boy who had attacked him in the mall earlier.

Although Danny's guilt-ridden face spoke volumes, before he could answer about Dani's whereabouts everyone's attention was drawn in by his mother.

"Vlad Masters, you filth!" She spat angrily, "After everything you have done, nothing would give me more pleasure than to end your pathetic existence myself right now!"

As though she was planning to make good on her threat, Maddie raised the end of her gun to Vlad's face, and it made a dangerously intimidating charging noise.

Vlad's expression and body language did not falter.

Daniel on the other hand, heard and was seeing everything.

"No stop!" He cried, suddenly breaking free from Danny's hold and running towards the Fentons'. Maddie ignored the boy's terrified plea and continued to keep both her gun and her focus on Vlad. Jack on the other hand turned and pointed his gun at Daniel.

If the boy had been in his ghost form at the time, chances are he would have been shot on sight.

"Wait!" Danny shouted, hoping that someone would stop what they were doing and listen to him.

"What the…" Jack mumbled in confusion, seeing a striking resemblance between this child and his own son.

"Jack don't you hurt him!" Vlad yelled angrily at the man when he realised he was aiming his rifle at the boy, not caring that there was also one targeted at himself.

Jack hesitated for a minute, conflicted with the fact that he was holding a child at gunpoint, but the same child was attempting to defend a dangerous foe.

This hesitance enabled Daniel to race towards Jack with no disruption, and he grabbed the end lengthy rifle. The boy pulled hard, desperate to get the weapon off the man and away from his father. Struggling with his grasp and afraid that he might accidentally shoot the teenager, Jack needed to get Daniel to let go. So he kicked Daniel hard just above the knee shocking him, and causing him to let go of the gun and fall back.

"AH!" Daniel wailed in pain as he hit the floor. Instinctively he cupped his hands over his sore leg.

Vlad's eyes glowed red with fury when he saw the man assault the boy. _How dare Jack Fenton hurt his son?_

"Why you…"

"HOLD IT!" Maddie screamed at Vlad, seeing his red eyes and hearing his aggressive tone. She jabbed the rifle hurt into Vlad's face. "One step, Vlad Masters. Just one step and I swear I'll shoot."

Vlad glared hatefully at Maddie. How could she stand by and let her husband hurt a child?

Danny, Sam and Tucker ran towards Daniel to check that he wasn't seriously injured. It was painfully deceiving how harmless the boy appeared to look in his human form. Daniel ignored them, and turned and aimed a glare at the man who kicked him and had threatened to shoot his father.

"Leave my dad alone you fat oaf!" He shouted fearlessly.

Jack's jaw dropped in shock. Whether it was from hearing the boy refer to Vlad as his father, or from being called a 'fat oaf' is uncertain.

Maddie, on the other hand, was much more diligent.

"What did that boy just call you?" She demanded, somehow invading even more of the half-ghost's personal space, "You don't have a son. Did you kidnap him? Brainwash him? What have you done now you sick son of a –"

"Mom, he's a clone." Danny interrupted, "You know, like Dani."

"A clone?" Jack repeated, wondering how it was that Vlad was actually able to create these clones. "I don't get it."

"There's a surprise." Vlad mumbled sardonically.

"You speak only when spoken to!" Maddie snapped, "Is this true? Did you clone my son again?"

Vlad eyed Maddie with a teasing smirk on his face. This was all the answer she needed.

"Uhh! What is _wrong_ with you?" She yelled. "Who even steals the DNA of a teenaged boy?"

"Sam, Tucker, why didn't either of you say anything about this on the way here?" Jack demanded.

Sam and Tucker exchanged nervous glances. The fact of the matter was that neither one of them knew how to break the news that an evil man had cloned there son. It wasn't a conversation relating to any clichéd drama where a pre-determined speech could be established.

"Uhh…Surprise?" Tucker offered weakly.

Both parent's scowled, dissatisfied with the way their mission was panning out. They had not interpreted coming across another clone of Danny during their capture of Vlad Masters.

"I don't get all this cloning sci-fi stuff one bit." Jack remarked. "But what I really don't get why you're so obsessed with Danny, Vlad."

"Someone had to take an interest in him." Vlad replied coldly.

"But why clone him?" Maddie asked, equally confused as she was angry. "That doesn't make him yours."

Daniel glared angrily at the woman holding his father at gunpoint. What did that mean, that he wasn't a person in his own right?

"Mom, there's something different about this clone." Danny said reluctantly.

"What, is he somehow not allergic to cinnamon?" Maddie retorted.

"Dude, you're allergic to cinnamon?" Tucker asked surprisingly.

"It's a mild allergy, but yeah." Danny sighed irritably.

"Just one more reason to hate Christmas, huh?" Sam smirked.

Danny merely scowled at his two friends. Now was really not the best time for joking.

"Well Danny?" Jack probed, "What's different about this clone?"

Danny frowned uncomfortably, why did he have to be the one to spell it out? Both his parent's had locked eyes on him, though Maddie's gun was still prepared to take a hit at Vlad if necessary. He could even feel Sam and Tucker's stares bore into each side of him. They were all eager for an explanation.

Danny stole a glance from Vlad. Despite the horrific situation he was in, the man was still somehow smirking. He was loving this, he was loving the fact that Danny was going to be the one to explain the origins of the clone.

"This clone…he's not just a clone of me." Danny began to explain.

"What do you mean?" Maddie asked, scowling with confusion and irritation.

"He-He is made up of two kinds of DNA. Cloned samples of mine…and Vlad's."

"WHAT?" Four different voices cried at once.

Having said it out loud, Danny actually felt sick.

"How is that even possible?" Sam wondered out loud.

"Dude! You had a kid with Vlad?" Tucker exclaimed.

"Tucker!" Danny groaned, those choice of words making the whole thing sound incredibly disgusting.

Enraged by this horrific revelation, both Jack and Maddie turned to Vlad, weapons loaded.

"You're insane." Jack stated. "That is the only way you can now be described, Vlad. You cannot get lower than this."

"You crazy mad scientist!" Maddie hissed. "I should just end your miserable existence now, you deserve no better!"

"Then do it!" Vlad yelled. "Honestly, call yourselves ghost hunters? Have either of you ever _genuinely_ caught and eliminated a ghost? You're all talk! So do it. Take me out, Have your first ghost kill be the notorious Vlad Plasmius. Since you are no longer perusing your son that, is!"

Vlad's words seemed to strike a chord with both Maddie and Jack. It looked as though they were both serious about firing their guns. Danny, Sam and Tucker stood and waited to see the outcome. None of them had believed beforehand that either of them would actually consider wasting Vlad Masters, but it seemed the man had pushed them too far this time. Enough was enough.

Daniel had stayed silent, the entire ordeal confusing and frightening for him. He had tried to make sense of what was happening right at this moment…but the conclusion he had come up was too horrifying to be true.

These people weren't going to kill his father…were they?

Vlad continued to stand stone faced, with his arms folded. It was as though he were merely deep in thought and not waiting for the sound of a charging ecto-ray which may end his life. Although he appeared uncaring, Vlad couldn't bring himself to clasp eyes on Daniel, even though he could feel his boring into his body. He knew that one glance at Daniel's face could be enough to break him.

He had to stay strong.

For a few seconds everyone in the room thought that the sound of charging guns wouldn't come.

But it did.

Surprisingly, Jack's gun was the first to charge up. Immediately followed by Maddie.

Tucker's eyes widened.

Danny's mouth dropped open.

Sam gasped with nerves.

Daniel scrambled to his feet, forcing himself to somehow prevent the attack. The terrified boy was immediately grabbed, pulled back and restrained by the other three teenagers.

"NO!" Daniel screamed. "LET ME GO! YOU CAN'T DO THIS!"

Danny, Sam and Tucker were struggling by the fighting force Daniel was using to try to pull away in order to protect Vlad. Danny gasped when he saw two black glowing rings appear around Daniel's torso.

He was trying to change into his ghost half.

With all the commotion and stress of the environment Daniel was struggling to focus enough to succeed with the transformation. But Danny knew that if he did and provided Vlad with a chance to defend himself or escape, they would all be sorry.

As the rings slowly crept further apart to opposite ends of Daniel's body, and him still fighting their grasp, Danny knew they were out of time.

"Mom, dad stop!" Danny shouted desperately, "You can't kill Vlad!"

 **()()()**

 **So…apologies in advance, may be some delay for next update. Will try my best.**

 **xseriouslyx**


	10. If I can't get you karma will

Upon hearing their son's desperate plea, Jack and Maddie instinctively turned to understand why Danny was trying to spare Vlad Master's life. Their weapons remained targeting Vlad's head in a potentially fatal manner.

Vlad also couldn't help but to glance over in the same direction, having similar thoughts to the Fenton's regarding why on earth Danny would interrupt this critical moment. His eyes widened with shock as he saw Daniel pulling against the three other teenagers with all his might, and appeared to be mere seconds away from completing his ghost transformation.

"Vlad call him off!" Jack shouted at his captive, fearful for the safety of his wife, son, and indeed Sam and Tucker. They were unsure of the capabilities this new ghost may possess.

Vlad narrowed his eyes at Jack, "Lower your weapons." He challenged darkly.

"Call him off or I'll finish him off!" Maddie threatened, accurately clutching her ecto-gun and showing no sign of backing down.

Vlad felt a sickening rage boil inside of him as he glared hatefully at the woman. _You would willingly kill a child, yet I am the monster_ he thought grimly.

"AHHH!" Daniel screamed in a rage, and successfully forced the release of Sam and Tucker's grip on his body. The two teenagers gasped in surprised as they fell to the ground and involuntary backed away from the potential danger. Daniel continued to fight against Danny's hold, whose ghost powers enabled him to continue to struggle against the clone.

"Stop it!" Danny yelled angrily, but it was too late. The two black rings which had been stuck around Daniel's torso suddenly progressed, one vanished at the top of his head the other disappeared at his feet. Transformation was complete.

Danny gasped as he was suddenly staring into a pair of terrifying red eyes. Eyes which reminded him so much about the evil Danny from the future. With Danny caught off his guard Daniel took his advantage and roughly shoved the other teenager across the room. Free from restraint, he turned and began charging towards the two people who were threatening his father's life.

Having saw what the clone had done to Danny and his friends, and realising that he was now targeting her and her husband, Maddie made her choice and held up her gun for aim.

Vlad looked at Maddie in horror, fearing that she would make true on her threat. He was desperate to just reach out and snatch the gun from her but there was nothing he could do, Jack's gun remained targeted squarely at him.

"No!" Vlad demanded, "Daniel stop!"

Sure enough, the younger half-ghost stopped in his tracks, and looked to his father for further instruction. However, he did not feel confident about obeying this order, fearful for both their lives.

Sam and Tucker apprehensively watched the display, not knowing what to do or how to help. But despite their hatred for Vlad and their dislike for this new clone, neither one of them wanted to see their best friend's mom demolish someone who was still technically a kid.

Danny had also picked himself up off the floor, and was now floating in the air. He'd seen how the clone had immediately stopped at Vlad's command, but was still undecided if it would be wise to attack him given how close in proximity Vlad was to both of his parents. He knew Vlad was angry and vengeful and one wrong move could be enough to send him over the edge.

"Look Maddie, I've done what you've asked." Vlad stated almost desperately. "He's stopped he won't hurt anyone I promise, just please don't shoot him."

"What makes you think a promise from _you_ means anything, Vlad Masters?" Maddie scoffed, her aim staying put.

"Maddie you know yourself, if you made a promise which your child's life depended on, you would move earth and the Ghost Zone to see it through." Vlad argued, "You have my word, Daniel won't harm anyone."

As Danny slowly lowered himself to the ground he felt his expression unstiffen, it wasn't often that Vlad allowed his humanity to show through the cracks. But every time Danny looked at Daniel he saw flashes of the bleak and dismal future which once could have existed because of his evil self; the evil self formed by his ghost half and Vlad Master's. The same genetics which had now formed Daniel.

Clockwork explained that the timeline could take many paths, Dark Danny threatened to return. Could that horrible future still happen, and could Daniel cause it? These were the thoughts which were tormenting Danny.

"I don't want to fight." Daniel stated, directing his words to Jack and Maddie Fenton. "I just don't want you to hurt my dad."

Despite being calm and rational, and giving some credit to Vlad's promise, Jack and Maddie had not been swayed by the young half-ghost.

"He's not your dad ghost clone," Jack said coldly, "He's a menace to society, and he's coming with us where he will be locked away in solitary confinement for the rest of his days…if he's lucky."

"But…But…" Daniel stammered fearfully.

"And you're coming along as evidence for the jury." Maddie added. "Any funny business out of either of you and the guns go off, there will be no second warning."

 **()()()**

It had felt like hours as the seven individuals travelled back to Amity Park in the Spector Speeder, both Vlad and Daniel were being held at gun-point the whole journey and everyone was tense.

The silence was deafening. Daniel had changed back into his human form, at the sharp demand of the Fenton's. He had kept his head down and stared at the ground since he'd sat down, he'd drawn the short straw of being squished on to the floor due to the lack of space and seats. He was worried that if he looked up he would give someone a reason to create an argument. Or that he might start to cry.

Vlad on the other hand kept his gaze on Danny, often locking eye contact with him. Danny inwardly cringed every time this happened. He felt like Vlad was trying to get into his head and mess with him. Why else would he stare?

At one point Vlad shot Danny one of his famous smirks as he met his scowl.

"You know, it's such a shame that Danielle isn't here for this little reunion." He said, breaking the silence.

Danny's eyes glowed green with anger. 'There it is,' he thought. Let the mind games begin.

"Who said you could talk, Vlad?" Maddie snapped from the steering wheel. Jack remained silent, but the ghost weapon in his grasp could speak volumes if necessary.

"My rights have not yet been removed, Maddie." Vlad drolly, "I figure I may as well get my fill whilst I can, and being allowed to voice myself is a fairly basic right."

"Until your words start to hurt people and create destruction." Sam said daringly, but not quite meeting the man's gaze.

Vlad looked in her direction with a cold expression, "If I had a weapon in my grasp and was pointing it towards an innocent young person with intent, I would not be lecturing anyone on hurting others or causing destruction, Miss Manson."

Sam tried to ignore him, but truthfully she was not comfortable with having the task of being armed and ready should Daniel try something.

"Leave her alone Plasmius." Danny warned, "And leave Dani out of this."

"Hm. You'll have to find her soon Danny." Vlad mocked. "Your mother may want to use her as evidence in the trail."

As much as it would have given Danny great satisfaction to sock Vlad hard right in the jaw at this moment, the teenager resisted the urge and had to restrain himself, as did everyone else.

Shortly after these brief interactions, the Spector Speeder returned to the basement at Fenton Works. As each individual slowly exited the cramped space and into the Fenton's lab, they saw Jazz waiting for them, along with Dani.

Danny was relieved to see Dani with Jazz, he had been worried that she'd might have run off again after hearing his harsh words. He gave her an apologetic look and intended to speak to her sincerely later on when he got a chance. He was feeling very guilty about hurting her feelings with his carelessness. He was met with a sour expression from her, an expression which was also directed at Vlad at one point. Vlad couldn't help but give her one of his subtle smirks.

Despite seeing that her family and friends had been successful in capturing Vlad, and the new clone whom Dani had told her about, Jazz kept a fairly calm yet blank expression.

"Shall I contact the authorities?" She inquired seriously.

"Yes, I think that would be a good idea, Jazz." Her mother responded.

Jazz nodded and left the lab, Dani followed behind her without saying a word.

Jack ordered Vlad and Daniel to stand against the wall, a good distance apart. He was desperate to try out some of his ghost restraints on Vlad and Daniel, but knew that now was not the time for experimenting. The slightest malfunction could result in Vlad being able to escape, or possibly hurt someone. Keeping them at gun-point was simple and had got them this far.

"Sam, Tucker, it's been a long day. Why don't the two of you head home before your parents' start to worry." Maddie said softly.

Sam and Tucker didn't really want to take the huge hint and leave. It annoyed them when Danny's parents forgot that they were skilled in fighting ghosts and handling dangerous situations. But they knew better than to argue with their friend's mother so they said a quick goodbye to Danny and reluctantly left.

Danny looked at Maddie, "Why did you ask them to leave? They've been a great help."

"Honestly Danny, when all this gets out I don't want their parents accusing us of putting them in danger." Maddie answered, because truthfully she felt they had already been in enough danger.

"Jack, Maddie, by all means let them send me to prison, burn me at the stake if you want but please don't let them take Daniel he has no part in this. Hide him before the authorities and Guys in White get here." Vlad pleaded.

All three of the Fenton's raised their eyebrows, it was a strange thing to see Vlad Masters on the verge of grovelling.

"No!" Daniel said in a panic, "I don't want to hide, I want to go to prison with you."

"I'm guessing he doesn't know what prison is." Jack said dryly.

"He doesn't know what anything is, he was literally born yesterday!" Vlad snapped.

"You have an interesting definition of being 'born' Vlad." Maddie sneered.

As this conversation proceeded Danny couldn't help but watch Daniel, and in some strange way, feel sorry for him. _Born yesterday?_ It all seemed so unfair. But Danny was still struggling to get beyond the possibility that Daniel could be evil to care too much.

"What are you guys talking about?" Jazz asked as she re-entered the lab and overheard the heated conversation. "The clone can't go to prison, he's a minor. Can he be convicted of anything, has he even committed any crime?"

"No." Vlad said irritably.

"That's not true, my friends and I practically saw the two of you stealing at the mall today." Danny argued.

"Prove it." Vlad challenged.

Danny scowled, he knew he couldn't actually prove it. Vlad had gone about it so sneakily there was no evidence to prove Daniel was a thief.

"So if we can't have him locked away with Vlad or otherwise, what's going to happen to him?" Danny asked with genuine curiosity.

"I'm sure the Guys in White will think of something." Maddie mumbled darkly.

Both Danny and Vlad gasped in shock.

"Maddie no!" Vlad said coldly. "You can't hand him over to the Guys in White, they are totally barbaric."

Danny shivered slightly, he would feel horrible about handing Daniel over to the GiW, evil or not he was still just a kid, just like him. No ghost should be at the mercy of the GiW

"Mom, what are thinking?" Jazz ranted, "We all hate the Guys in White, and they are insane. Remember they tried to kill Danny several times? If we give them this clone they might try and go after Danielle as well, maybe experiment on her."

"Well what are we supposed to do?" Jack pondered. "We can't hide an accomplice/evidence from the authorities, they would arrest us!"

"Once again your inability to think things through ruins yet another life!" Vlad yelled.

"Shut up Vlad! He's only here because of you!" Danny shouted.

"If you had just left things alone none of this would be happening, but no! You just have to keep on playing the 'hero' don't you?" Vlad sneered.

Maddie raised her gun, "Vlad I swear if you do not leave my son alone I will blow you away." She threatened.

"You leave my dad alone!" Daniel shouted daringly and he quickly stepped forward and shoved Maddie hard.

Caught unaware, the woman lost her balance and fell to the ground. She and her weapon where not a threat to Vlad at this point.

From there, it was like everything that happened in the following few seconds happened in slow motion

Upon realising that the clone had assaulted his wife, Jack turned and quickly targeted Daniel, prepared to shoot.

Enraged, Vlad realised what Jack intended to do, and transformed, prepared to stop Jack by any means.

Danny, who was already in ghost form saw Vlad transform and was prepared.

As Vlad darted at Jack, Danny charged at him, causing the three of them to collide into one another.

Jazz, who helped her mother on to her feet, screamed as the ecto-gun went off and a loud bang followed.

Daniel gasped in fear as he saw the huge gaping hole in the wall behind him, knowing it had been intended for him.

Realising what Jack had done, Vlad growled angrily at the man and violently grabbed his neck, intent on squeezing the life right out of the man.

Danny knocked Vlad off of Jack with an ecto-blast, leaving his father alive but gasping desperately for air.

Dani rushed into the lab after hearing all the noise. She observed Vlad and Danny fighting fiercely, Jack catching his breath, and Jazz stood with her mother who was aiming her weapon again at Daniel. She felt conflicted in deciding who to fight or who to assist.

"Mom no!" Jazz protested.

Maddie would have rather have had a shot at Vlad, but she was fearful that she would accidentally hurt her son. Her daughter's pleas fell on deaf ears, she had had enough of Vlad Plasmius and the trouble he and his clone had caused. One shot equalled one less problem.

Daniel stared at Maddie as he realised her intention. He wished he was more skilled in his ghost powers. He could escape, turn invisible, attack her first with an ecto-blast. But he knew he couldn't yet, he'd never felt more human than what he did at this moment.

Daniel glared at her, deciding that he didn't care if she took the shot, but he wouldn't allow her the satisfaction of seeing the fear in his eyes.

Vlad saw Maddie out of the corner of his peripheral vision, what she was about to do. He had had enough of the Fentons. They had robbed him of everything, they would not take his son.

Vlad roughly grabbed hold of Danny with both hands and threw him hard over his shoulder.

He did this at the same time Maddie fired her gun.

The blast was a direct hit. Daniel watched in horror as Danny dropped to the floor before his eyes, involuntary turned human, and blacked out.

All at once several screams echoed in the lab, all out of fear for Danny. Jazz and Maddie rushed over to him, begging him to respond. Jack, still gasping for air also attempted to aide his injured son.

Vlad watched the display silently, he felt some sort of strange relief as the Fenton's panicked over their fallen family member. He finally felt that there was some sort of justice in the universe.

Vlad was so engrossed in the drama he hadn't noticed that Dani has stealthily flew across the room in her ghost form. He appeared to be the only one who acknowledged a loud crash and a yelp.

"This is all your fault!" Dani screamed as she repeatedly punched Daniel, whom she had pinned to the floor.

Daniel's eyes flashed red for a second as he came to his senses and roughly pushed her off before kicking her hard in the stomach.

Vlad was horrified and dumbfounded as he watched his 'children' fight one another with such brutality.

However, it was a different voice shouting that seemed to bring him back into reality.

"POLICE!"

"No!" Vlad gasped, he was nearly out of time.

He had to get out of the Fenton's home, and fast. He couldn't get caught, he couldn't be locked away. He needed a second chance, his time was now.

He quickly glanced over at the weeping Maddie and Jazz, and wheezy Jack. The half ghost smirked with delight.

"Well Fenton's, it's been fun but that is my que to leave." Vlad announced cheerfully as he strode towards Daniel and Dani. "Do give Danny my best Maddie, if he ever wakes up that is!"

None of the Fenton could acknowledge, let alone stop Vlad, they were all in shock over Danny. Especially Maddie. But they heard him, his cheery demeanour, his condescending remarks. A true villain at his peak.

Feeling up to the heavy duty task of transformation after hours of resting his ghost half, Vlad reached out and grabbed both Daniel and Dani by their wrist.

By the time the authorities reached the lab only the Fenton's remained, pleading for help as Danny remained unconscious.

 **()()()**

 **Hello readers,**

 **Firstly, my apologies for the extremely long wait…I feel bad!**

 **Secondly, apologies for the not so long chapter. I've decided to take the story in a different direction and this chapter is allowing me to do that, and this seemed an appropriate place to end.**

 **Finally, I will try to update a little bit faster in future, but life and writers block can be a hard thing!**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter please let me know, all the best until next time!**

 **xseriouslyx**


	11. Lock-ins

Vlad almost collapsed once he had successfully completed the teleportation. He practically dropped the two children he had tightly grasped the hold of and fell on to his knees. Despite involuntarily changing back to his human form from physical exhaustion, Vlad willed himself to remain conscious. Teleportation was extremely draining when traveling a fair distance. Vlad glanced around his surrounding and could confirm that he had in fact teleported to his abandoned mansion in Amity Park. It wasn't as far as he would have liked to have gone, but it at least it was a safe hideout. Even if that would only be for a very temporary basis.

Vlad also caught sight of the two younger half ghosts, who were also quickly finding their bearings. The man scoffed to himself, no wonder he felt so awful. Teleportation was energy sapping at the best of times let alone transporting two additional people!

The man frowned for a second, why on earth did he grab Dani? Why did he bring her too? The girl was nothing but trouble. The truth was he hadn't intended to, he simply subconsciously took her wrist as well as Daniel's in the midst of the panic to quickly escape the Fenton's lab.

"Ugh…" Vlad groaned as he tried to get on to his feet.

He was suddenly thrust backwards from a hard kick to his chest. He landed several feet away from Dani and Daniel.

Dani was about to charge towards Vlad in an angry frenzy but she was quickly stopped by Daniel who grabbed her by the shoulders and flung her backwards.

"What are you doing?" he yelled at her in Vlad's defence as she landed on the floor.

"I'll get you for this Vlad Masters!" Dani screamed, ignoring Daniel. "You will pay for what you did to Danny!"

Vlad had to hold in an angry growl as he pulled himself on to his feet with the support of a dusty chest of drawers. He knew Dani could do a lot of damage given she was in ghost form and he hadn't the energy to use his.

There was also the impeding threat that attackers with intent on arresting or demolishing him where possibly heading this way in attempt to find him. Vlad knew he had to move fast, and Dani would only slow him down.

"Daniel, keep her occupied…I'll be back shortly." Vlad said almost breathlessly to his son.

Daniel watched for a second as Vlad somewhat staggered out of the room, clearly not in great shape. He then turned his gaze towards Dani and glared at her. He wasn't sure what 'keep her occupied' meant entirely, however he was certain that Vlad most likely didn't want her attacking him again.

Dani scowled at Daniel. "I'm not afraid of you!"

"Good." Daniel answered indifferently, as he slowly but successfully transformed into his ghost-half. "Guess that means we're on a level playing field then."

Seconds later Vlad could hear crashing and yelling coming from the bedroom where he had left Dani and Daniel. He sighed with frustration, he felt angry that he had left Daniel to fight his battle but he needed time and he had to get to his 'private study'.

That was one thing he had truly hated about being the mayor of Amity Park, the lack of privacy. Being a public official and a half ghost did not mix well, always being watched, being pestered. Naturally, this made building a secret lab into his new home like he had done previously in Wisconsin rather difficult.

But Vlad loved a challenge and needs must. Soon enough he was stood in a room with several high tech gadgets and computers. Vlad was relieved to find everything as it had been since he was last there, clearly no one came across this room when his mansion was raided.

Vlad flicked a few switches and pressed a few buttons, and immediately he felt much safer. Satisfied, he left the lab and the study to return to the two children.

The banging and battle cries had not subsided, when Vlad entered the room both Dani and Daniel were still violently beating one another. Both were breathless, though it didn't appear that neither of them was going to stop on their own accord, despite Dani having an eye which was already turning a shade of purple and Daniel with blood seeping from his nose.

Realising that at least one of them was going to get seriously hurt, Vlad swiftly stepped in between and firmly shoved them apart.

"I think that's enough sibling rivalry for one day, hm?" He said uncaringly. Each child gave Vlad an irritated glare, for getting in their way and for insinuating that the two were 'siblings.'

"Fine, I'll just kick your butt instead!" Dani threatened, as she formed two ecto-blasts around her fists.

"I wouldn't if I were you, Danielle." Vlad scoffed, "True, I may not be at full power just right now, but I still doubt that you could take on both me and Daniel."

Dani glared at Vlad with his smug expression, and then at Daniel with his angry scowl. She knew he was right, to go up against the two of them would be foolish.

"I don't know why you brought me here Vlad, but I'm not staying." Dani said firmly as she floated up into the air. "Soon everyone will know where you are, they'll come for you and lock you away."

"And I suppose you're going to be the one to tell them where I am, yes?" Vlad asked sardonically.

"You can't stop me!" Dani shouted fearlessly, before she flew off through a window.

"No!" Daniel yelled, he was about to jump up and fly after her only Vlad caught his shoulder and firmly pressed down to keep him on the ground.

"Ah, ah, ah." Vlad said with gentle disapproval, "You stay here my boy."

"But…but we have to go after her, we have to stop her!" Daniel fretted.

"Just wait for it." Vlad replied calmly.

Daniel remained stood where he was, but he was struggling to be calm and accept what Vlad was asking of him. Surely if she got out and told someone his father would be captured? Why would they let that happen? He jumped slightly when a few seconds later the two half ghosts heard Dani scream from outside.

"There we go." Vlad said with a grin, "Let's go Daniel, it sounds like our dearest Danielle may be in need of some assistance.

Confused, Daniel followed Vlad who walked outside as he didn't want to chance trying to transform just yet. The two of them could just about see Dani in the late evening shade, she was sat on the ground in her human form looking confused and as if she was trying to grasp at thin air.

She swiftly turned when she heard Vlad and Daniel walk up behind her.

"Get back, stay away from me!" She cried, trying to hide the fear in her voice.

"Oh calm down, we merely came out to see if you were alright." Vlad said with false sincerity.

"What was that?" Dani asked, "There's something there Vlad, I can't see it but I crashed into it and it shocked me…I think it shorted out my powers."

Daniel raised an eyebrow and wondered what she was talking about, he didn't see anything either, and he wondered why his father was simply standing out in the open for the world to potentially see him.

"Come back inside, Danielle. I'll explain everything." Vlad told her as he turned and headed towards the mansion, directing Daniel to follow.

 **()()()**

Maddie, Jack and Jazz Fenton were all feeling overwhelmed and in a sense, terrified. There now felt as if an enormous anti-climax hung over them, they had spoken with police, doctors, the Guys in White, it was only now that they were being left alone did all the horribleness of the day crash over them.

They sat next to Danny who lay still in the hospital bed, his breathing shallow but rhythmic. Medical staff had him hooked up to a monitor and a couple of IV's, although they had been honest with the family and explained that they didn't really know what was wrong or how they could help.

"I've never had a patient with 'spectral tendencies' Mr and Mrs Fenton." The doctor had regrettably told them. "I'm afraid we are unsure of the best course of treatment."

None of the medical staff who had examined Danny could actually find anything physically wrong with him, despite expecting that a gunshot wound would result in at least a flesh wound. Since there was no obvious injury, there was no explanation for why he wouldn't wake up. It was decided that Danny would be treated as though he were a coma patient, despite the fact that he wasn't in a coma. Doctor's reasoning for it being that his human half would be cared for whist he was unable to do so himself.

Jazz had a theory that because Danny had been hurt in his ghost form, it was his ghost half which needed to recover and may be using the health from his human side to do so. Though of course she couldn't prove this, and she was worried that if she was right and Danny's ghost half couldn't heal on its own, would he ever wake up?

She had explained her thoughts and worries to her parents but they were too distraught to listen properly. Jazz wondered because her parents had studied ghosts and their biology for so many years that there might be a possibility that they could help Danny. Unfortunately her mother was too guilt ridden to contemplate such a suggestion and Jack was trying his best to handle all the officials who wanted information on Vlad.

Word was quick at spreading around Amity Park and in little time at all everyone was gossiping and fearful that Vlad Plasmius was making a vengeful return. Of course, everyone was questioning where Danny Phantom was and why he wasn't out looking for Vlad. When word got out that Danny was in hospital people began to panic, thinking that Vlad was responsible and no one could protect them.

Of course Vlad was responsible for Danny's injury, as it had been his intent, the family chose to remain silent as to how he had been hurt. They didn't want Maddie to be judged on what had been an accident.

In the midst of the Fenton's worry for Danny, they hadn't forgotten that when Vlad escaped from their basement he had taken Dani with him. Vlad's possible intentions of what he wanted with Dani had crossed each of their minds, creating their own conclusions and none of them were positive.

Jazz felt especially conflicted, as even though she wanted to stay at her brother's side and hope that a flash of inspiration would hit and she could help him, she knew that if he was awake right now he would be searching everywhere for Dani. Jazz had tried to speak with anyone who could help or would listen and explain that their youngest family member had been kidnapped. However the point always seemed to get back to the importance of capturing the notorious Vlad Plasmius rather than rescuing Dani.

In honesty the teenage girl did want to go off with the help of Sam and Tucker, but none of them had the slightest clue on where to begin. Not to mention all of their parents suddenly had a 'lock-down' system in progress where all three of them were rarely allowed out of sight. This was the case for most of the children and teenagers in Amity Park. The threatening news had sent most parents into a panic and if there's one thing the citizens had learned how to do effectively over the years, it was to run and hide when under the threat of a ghost. Or in this case, potential threat as Vlad was currently also in hiding and was yet to make an appearance to the public.

Sam, Jazz and Tucker hadn't even had the chance to speak to each other. The two friends were devastated when they heard from the breaking news report that Danny had been hospitalised and was unresponsive. They also felt guilty and each wondered if they had stayed could the accident have been avoided. However when it came to taking any action or making communication with one another, their parents' put the foot down.

Even Tucker's 'electoral responsibilities' wasn't a good enough reason to sway his mother and father, who firmly explained that 'the authorities would take care of things and if they needed the mayor's input or guidance they knew his phone number!' This annoyed Tucker because he knew that the likelihood of specialists turning to a teenager for help in battling one of the city's greatest threats was slim. Instead, Tucker was goaded into making a brief statement to the public along the lines of _how the experts were handling the situation and everyone was to remain calm and remain indoors if possible_ …And it sickened him to be made to feel so useless.

Even Valerie Gray was knocked out of action. As soon as Damon Gray got wind that Vlad Masters was back, he confiscated Valerie's ghost fighting equipment and wouldn't let her out of sight. Valerie's ghost hunting was always a concern for Damon, and he knew how much his daughter hated the man since she learned of his betrayal to her, and he simply couldn't let her run off and put herself in great danger by attempting to go up against the powerful half ghost.

So with the Fenton's, Sam, Tucker and Valerie currently out of action and the Guy's in White and other officials not having the slightest idea on how to track Plasmius, Jazz was feeling very scared about the whole ordeal. Truthfully she could care less about Vlad's escape, Jazz personally believed that if Vlad had anything sinister planned he would have attempted it before now. She just wanted Dani returned safe, and her little brother to wake up.

 **()()()**

"An invisible ghost shield?" Dani scoffed upon hearing the explanation as to why she'd been unable to leave the grounds. "Aren't those to keep ghosts _out_ of your home?"

Daniel, who was sat cross-legged on the grubby carpeted floor looked at his father to clarify this point. Vlad, who was sat in what had once been an expensive fireside chair and now had a coat of dust over it like the rest of the house, was struggling to hide an annoyed expression. He couldn't think of a single thing to be grateful for in this scenario, and trying to deal with Dani was incredibly aggravating and only lowering his mood.

"It's more than just your average ghost shield," Vlad went on to say, "It's more advanced than that. No one gets in, no one gets out. Ghost or otherwise."

"So you think that when people come to search here for you your fancy shield will protect you?" Dani mocked, as she continued to pace the floor.

"Precisely." Vlad replied through gritted teeth. Over the months he'd almost forgotten how irritating Dani could be.

"Okay. Fine. I've just one question." Dani said.

Vlad gave the girl a bored expression and asked with fake interest, "And what might that be?"

"ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR FRUIT-LOOPY MIND?" She yelled, waving her arms in frustration.

Daniel jerked backwards in surprise at Dani's sudden outburst, but continued to observe the display.

"Will you calm down?" Vlad snapped at her.

Dani continued to shout at the man. "No! Vlad you can't keep me locked up in here. What am I even doing here, what do you want with me this time?"

Vlad had no response to this. He still didn't know why he'd brought her here, he didn't know what to do with her. Grabbing her wrist and teleporting her along with Daniel and himself had been a huge mistake. But he couldn't allow her to leave now, she would expose him faster and would only stir up more trouble. She would have to stay with him and Daniel for now, no matter how big a nuisance she was.

"You are so heartless!" Dani hissed when she realised Vlad wouldn't answer her. "I'm not afraid of you Vlad, you can keep me pinned here all you want but _you_ can't stay here forever. They will come here and find you and you will have to leave sooner or later, or this busted up house will become your prison!"

Dani then stomped out of the sitting room and her angry footsteps could be heard marching up the stairs. She may have been unable to leave the house but she didn't have to stomach being in the same room as the man who tried to have her literally dissolve into nothing.

Vlad sighed heavily and sunk his head into his hand. He knew Dani was right, soon enough they would find him here and the once beautiful mansion which was now more like a pathetic haunted house attraction minus the tacky decorations, thanks to the recklessness of investigators and reporters, would be like a prison. They would likely cut off the power, gas, water, do anything to make the place more unliveable. Vlad was now facing the same problems he had with the cabin in the Rockies, it was filthy and more importantly, he was back to having no food.

Without needing to look up, Vlad could sense Daniel's big blue eyes gazing at him. Waiting for reassurance. Vlad could feel the impending wave of failure creeping up on him, eating away at his conscience. What had he led this child in for?

Finally lifting his head to face the boy, Vlad's tired gaze was met with a sweet smile.

"She's a fiery one, isn't she?" Daniel humouredly commented referring to Dani and her angered outburst.

Despite the bleakness of the situation, Vlad couldn't help but let out a brief half-hearted chuckle at the boy's observation along with the fact that he still had a trace of dried blood under his nose.

"Oh Daniel, I've made such a mess of everything." The older half ghost said in dismay.

Daniel bit his lip when he saw the worry on his father's face. "It's okay, we're safe now. You got us away from those horrid people with the guns."

"Yes Daniel but now this whole blasted town will know I'm back, they'll all be looking for me. Danielle is right about one thing, and it's that this house will become a prison." Vlad said grimly.

Daniel held in a shudder. He didn't care much for the huge abandoned house, it wasn't a home and the state it was currently in it didn't look like it had ever been a home. "Why don't we just go back to our cabin out in the forest-y place?" He asked innocently.

Vlad raised an eyebrow at the boy's useless suggestion. "Because that's the first place they'll look, they'll think I'll have retreated there. If they don't come here first that is. Mind you, they may not check here for a while, perhaps no one will think that I'd be so stupid as to hide in my own home!"

Noticing Vlad's irritated tone, Daniel decided to change the subject. "Why is that girl here? I don't like her, why is she so angry?"

Vlad let out a loud groan, this was clearly not the best topic to discuss with him either. "Oh Daniel will you ever give it a rest?" He snapped. "You always badger on at me, well guess what? I don't have all the answers. Instead of prattling on at me all the time why don't you use your own brain and think for yourself sometimes? Has it escaped your notice that we are in a lot of trouble here? At first I thought you were just innocent and inexperienced, but now I'm starting to wonder if you're just a bit simple."

Daniel took in a silent gulp of air and held it in, willing himself not to burst into tears. Did Vlad really think he was 'simple?' Stupid? He was dependant on Vlad and Vlad alone, therefore when the man was angry at him Daniel felt very alone, and frightened. Without Vlad there was no one, he couldn't stand it if the man started to dislike him.

Stepping on to his feet, Daniel decided to leave his father to his thoughts, perhaps when he was in this mood he was better to be on his own. But he figured he should show Vlad that he did in fact have a brain and a backbone before he left.

"You know dad, don't take it out on me when things don't go your way. By the sounds of it I'm the only person in the world who likes you right now, so maybe pushing me away isn't the best idea. Just saying. So I'm going to go upstairs and find a bed to try to sleep in, cause no offence, you're not nice company at the minute. I'll see you in the morning." Daniel grumbled at Vlad, before swiftly leaving the room.

Vlad didn't respond to Daniel because he was stunned at the boy's arrogance. He never imagined that Daniel would ever speak to him like that. It was almost as though he were the child and Daniel was the adult.

"I do not have the energy for this nonsense." Vlad sighed to himself. "I'll deal with him in the morning."

As Vlad sat on by himself trying to figure out a plan, Daniel was up the stairs and wiping his eyes which had started watering. He wasn't allowing himself to get this upset, he knew it was pointless. A few seconds later he nearly bumped into Dani, who stepped out on the landing.

Daniel glared at her. "What do you want?"

"From you? Nothing." She replied simply.

"Good. Now get out of my way." Daniel snapped, "I'm going to bed."

Dani raised an eyebrow at Daniel's tone. "What's annoyed you?" She asked smugly, knowing there was only one other person who could have annoyed him.

"Leave me alone." Daniel grunted as he tried to get past her, to no avail.

"Look I'm sorry we fought." Dani said suddenly with a genuine tone. "It's not you I'm mad at, it's Vlad. I shouldn't have taken it out on you, it's not your fault. You're just another one of his victims."

"I'm not a victim!" Daniel bitterly responded. "And I am not listening to you, you won't turn me against him like that other half ghost turned you."

Dani had to take a deep breath to stop herself from screaming at her counterpart. This was a difficult enough conversation for her to have without Daniel being a jerk about it.

"You don't know the full story." She said seriously. "But I'm just warning you, be careful. Vlad is not a good guy. You'll see that sooner or later."

Daniel glared at her for a few seconds. It was concerning how everyone hated Vlad and had an opinion on how evil or dangerous he was.

"Move." He ordered Dani, as he shoved her out of his way and walked quickly down the hall and into a bedroom.

It looked as though it was intended as a guest bedroom at one point, but the lack of maintenance had removed a lot of charm the room potentially could have. Daniel decided he could care less about his surroundings and threw himself on to the bed, trying to kick most of the dust of the duvet.

As he huddled into himself trying to ignore the cold, he thought about how horrible the day had turned out and it felt like it had gone on forever. He thought about the warning heeded by Dani in the hallway, and the coldness of the people who threatened and had attempted to kill his father. Then he remembered the nasty way Vlad had spoken to him for no reason.

It was a lot to think about, but Daniel was too tired to dwell on it all now. He figured time would make sense of it all and he would eventually come to his own conclusions about everything…and everyone.

 **()()()**

 **A/N:**

 **Just saying I've changed the titles of most of the chapters so far because I don't like the '_and _' theme that was going on...it's a pain and didn't always seem to make sense! So that's a mini update along with a chapter update, hope you like!**

 **xseriouslyx**


	12. The Only Way

The next morning Vlad dragged himself into the kitchen. He was grateful that he was a man who required little sleep in order to function, last night he had merely dozed on and off in the armchair in the sitting room as pestering thoughts and worries rattled around in his head. At this point, after so long his body was now practically running itself on adrenaline. It was just another problem and to demand his focus after another in his life.

As he looked around the kitchen he quickly wondered what the point was in being there. There was no food, not even so much as enough to make himself a cup of coffee. So the half-ghost settled for a glass of water, that much the house could offer him.

As he sat at the breakfast bar he continued to force himself to think, but it looked as though no matter what he did he was stuck. None of his thoughts were offering any logical solutions or even perspectives, and it felt like he was simply driving himself mad.

Glancing at the television mounted on the wall, Vlad decided to take a break. He didn't watch a lot of T.V, but he was aware that in times of stress many people turned towards it by means of relaxation or procrastination.

"Might as well whilst I still can." Vlad mumbled bitterly to himself as he clicked the remote. He hadn't forgotten about the likelihood that the power and everything else which made a modern home liveable would be disconnected once the town got confirmation of where he was, and how easy it would be to make him as uncomfortable as possible, which he had no doubt would occur within the next few hours. Inadvertently Vlad found himself watching Amity Park's latest brief news update.

"A widespread search for Amity Park's ex-major notorious half ghost, Vlad Plasmius who recently attempted a takeover world domination continues since he was spotted in the ghost hunting lab of Jack and Maddie Fenton yesterday evening. Concern for the safety of our city has risen and sadly our hero Danny Phantom remains in unfit condition after being attacked by Plasmius in his home. We wish him a fast recovery. Officials are encouraging the 'lock-down' system for our children and young people until such times as our safety can be assured. Tune in later for more updates on our latest crisis, I'm Tiffany Snow."

"Notorious." Vlad scoffed at word used to describe him.

"I can think of one or two better words more fitting of you." Called Dani's voice.

Vlad swiftly turned around to see both Dani and Daniel standing by the kitchen doorway, they had clearly been watching the T.V over Vlad's shoulder. The two younger half ghosts looked tired and unamused.

Vlad slowly exhaled to control his annoyance. He had been hoping for at least a couple more hours' peace before he'd have to deal with the two teenagers. He wasn't at all surprised by Dani's immediate attitude, but even Daniel looked irritated with him with his slight scowl and folded arms. It looked as though Vlad would have to repair what he'd damaged with his words the previous night, otherwise he ran the risk of Daniel having the same view of him as Dani.

Before Vlad could stand or even get a word out, Dani had transformed herself and began hurling herself towards Vlad with violent force. Vlad quickly braced himself for impact and also transformed to defend himself against Dani's angry attack. Daniel didn't move or transform but chose to watch the display of violence, despite having already become bored of the hatred and fury which seemed to easily gravitate towards his father by others.

Without much difficulty Vlad managed to restrain Dani, but whilst pinning her to the ground decided against harming her despite his frustration with the younger half ghost.

"You stupid girl!" He growled to her face, "How dare you attack me? Your power doesn't compare anything the strength of against mine!"

"You've really hurt Danny!" Dani accused as she struggled ineffectively against Vlad's hold. "I heard it Vlad, I'll make you pay!"

Vlad growled as he pushed Dani down harder then pushed himself swiftly on to his feet. His scowled hardened when he accidently looked in Daniel's direction and saw a blank neutral on his face, almost as though he were watching the argument on a t.v screen. Vlad quickly turned away from his son and walked across the kitchen as Dani was picking herself up, his anger was building as the realisation of how trapped he really was beginning to sink in. It was becoming clear that as well as the entire world, the two children that he himself had created were also doubting and interrogating him.

As Vlad stared aimlessly out the window as if to try and ignore the situation, Dani formed ecto-blasts on her fists and was gearing up to attack again not caring that Vlad had quickly abandoned the beginnings of a fight when Daniel dropped his hand on her shoulder. "If you have any sense, you'll not do that." He told her bluntly.

Dani paused and shot him a look of revulsion. "Who are you to tell me what to do? You think I'm afraid of either of you?"

"No I don't." Daniel replied flatly. "However acting out of anger won't help your injured friend and you will more than likely get hurt, and fighting doesn't seem to suit you. So what's the point? Would that Danny really want you fighting his battles for him?"

Dani averted her gaze. She hated to admit it, but what Daniel had said was very true. But how could she stay calm under the same roof as the man who had caused so much pain to her and others she cared about? She simply had to hope justice would see her through again.

"I don't know how long I'll be stuck here," Dani said coldly, addressing both Daniel and Vlad, "but I want nothing to do with either of you. This will end badly for you Vlad, make no mistake. For as long as I am here both of you just leave me alone."

Daniel's gaze followed her briefly as she stormed out of the kitchen and disappeared into house. He then turned his attention to Vlad who was still staring out the window, and hadn't said a word. Daniel began walking across the kitchen, gathering his thoughts. It seemed the true colors of his father was slowly becoming less blurry.

As he joined Vlad by the window the older half ghost reverted back into his human form. Daniel looked up at Vlad's face and Vlad acknowledged him by simply meeting his gaze.

Daniel took in a deep breath and said, "World domination dad, really?"

"Ugh!" Vlad growled in irritation as he turned his head away. "You don't understand Daniel."

"Well help me to understand then." Daniel pressed, "Just tell me everything, I don't want to be ignorant in all of this or find out things from other people. I'd rather hear it from you."

"Daniel, all I can do at this point is confirm what you've heard and seen. I'm the bad guy. Always have been, everything got blown up in my face. I didn't want this happen. I thought I had worked everything out, to just start again and get away from it. And…And I didn't mean to drag you into this disaster with me, which is why I told you to get out if you could." Vlad said in an almost detached tone.

"I don't care that you were the bad guy back then." Daniel said honestly. "I don't think you're bad now, I want to know what made you do those bad things. There had to be reasons why. People can't really be bad just for the sake of it, can they?"

Vlad raised a sceptical eyebrow at Daniel. "You're not experienced enough to be trying to analyse things you don't understand Daniel." Vlad said firmly. "And as for not being bad now, well look around you. We're stuck here because of my doing, and you heard Danielle. The beloved Danny Phantom is now out of action because of me, lying battered and helpless in an overcrowded hospital ward. I brought down the town hero and honestly couldn't care less! Not a moment too soon if you ask me!"

"Hang on, I was there when that Phantom kid got hurt and it wasn't you who shot him, it was that angry woman with the gun!" Daniel argued.

"Oh enough Daniel, I knew what I was doing!" Vlad snapped. "The only thing I regret is accidently bringing that useless girl with us when I transported us out of there."

There was a pause as Daniel allowed Vlad's harsh words to sink in. Despite the hateful tone which they were said in, the young clone wasn't sure how honest his father was being when he claimed he didn't regret his actions from the previous day. He didn't understand why Vlad claimed to hate Danny so much, after all why would he have used Danny's DNA to make clones if he truly hated him so much?

Daniel knew better than to bombard his irritated father with questions or to challenge what didn't seem to add up, it only seemed to anger him further. Just like it had done the night before.

Noting Daniel's unusual silence Vlad gave him a bitter smirk, "I think this is the first time you've been rendered speechless, my boy. Look on the bright side you were only living an ignorantly blissful life for a day or so, and coming from the Colorado Rockies you didn't have far to fall. "

"I have plenty to say, I just don't want to annoy you further." Daniel replied simply. "But since you seem interested in my opinion, I don't think you're being honest. I do think you have regrets, and I think we're all stuck in this situation because you don't know how to face them. And I think you should let Dani go."

Vlad's jaw nearly dropped open from his son's bold reply. How could Daniel make such an observation? How on earth could he possibly even have the logic to make simple connections, he didn't yet have the life experience. Not to mention, Vlad was convinced that Daniel had no idea what sort of man his father really was.

Caught off guard, rather than debate the situation in a sensible fashion with Daniel Vlad instead scoffed at the boy and resorted to doing what he had become so skilled in doing from the past, belittle his opponent.

"Oh this is wonderful, my new-formed teenaged clone thinks he knows better than me. Tell you what Daniel, instead of trying to analyse _my_ thinking and behaviour around people and situations you know nothing about, why don't you go off and see if you can learn the alphabet or draw a straight line."

Daniel's eyes widened in surprise at how his father had spoken to him, perhaps he picked him up wrong, surely Vlad wouldn't deliberately try to demean him? True, he had a lot to learn in relation to life experience but he wasn't as stupid as Vlad seemed to be implying. After all, his knowledge and intelligence level was cloned exactly from the person, or in this case people, who provided the DNA.

"I'm only trying to help." Daniel said coldly, "Maybe if you listened to people more instead of pushing them away or being cruel you wouldn't be trapped in this broken house. Or is that what you want? You know I thought the cabin was a really nice place, it is compared to here anyway, but that's before I seen a little bit of the world outside of it and realised there's more out there. Which makes me think you were actually trying close yourself away, you're clearly running from your problems."

"Enough Daniel!" Vlad shouted, "You have no idea what you're talking about."

"Why? Because I'm 'simple?' Daniel shot back. "Give me a little credit dad, you're only being like this because you don't like that there's truth in what I'm saying to you. Yeah, you're in a cruddy situation right now but it can get better."

"Oh? Please enlighten me with your infinite wisdom Daniel." Vlad mocked. "How do you suppose I make this all better, hm?"

"I'm not saying you can make it all go away dad. But maybe if you showed a little good faith you'll get some in return. Let Dani go and that might make people think that you're not bad just for the sake of it. Or at least not a kidnapper anyway. Daniel suggested.

Vlad eventually removed his gazed from Daniel's as he sighed and thought for a moment. Truthfully that thought had crossed his mind during his sleepless night, releasing Dani. After all it wouldn't be difficult to do and taking her had been a genuine mistake. True he originally didn't want to release her because she could reveal where he was, but that would in evidently come anyway whether she was here or not and with the shield surrounding the mansion it wouldn't actually be a problem if the masses would show up.

However when the adrenaline is pumping and sleep is lacking, this logic does not always come clearly.

As he internally debated these thoughts it took him a while to notice that Daniel had left the room. Vlad was surprised, given that less than twenty-four hours ago it was incredibly difficult to pry himself away from the insecure adolescent.

At least he had left on his own account and not due to Vlad's short temper this time as he had been forced to do the night before.

 **()()()**

As Daniel wandered around the wrecked house he hoped that his stubborn father had listened to him, but overall he was relieved he hadn't started an argument. It felt to him like it was coming pretty close to that stage.

Absentmindedly, Daniel opened a closed door and strolled into the room, greeted almost instantly by an ecto-blast which narrowly missed the top of his head.

"Ah!" He cried out in shock, "What the-"

"I told you and the fruitloop to leave me alone!" Screamed Dani, who was perched on the windowsill, glaring at the intruder of her peace and quiet.

"Jeez! Calm down, how was I supposed to know you were in here?" Daniel growled back defensively.

"Wouldn't put it passed you, after all you are Vlad's new lap dog aren't you? Probably spying on me in attempt to win his favour." Danielle replied primly.

"Oh, you mean like you were once?" Daniel shot back instantly. Although he hadn't heard the full story to know what all had happened between Vlad and Dani in the past, he was savvy enough to know that Dani once adored him as much as he did. Only because there was visible hurt weaved in through her hatred towards the older half ghost.

Dani's eyes glowed a very aggressive green, "Watch it kid! I warned you about Vlad, now I'll warn you about me. Don't make me angry and say something stupid because I will flatten you like roadkill. Consider this your first and only warning. Now beat it."

Daniel rolled his eyes in annoyance as he turned back around and reached for the door knob. "And to think I tried to help you."

"I don't need _your_ help." Dani snapped, "What are you talking about anyway?"

"I was just downstairs trying to convince our dad to let you go, seeing as you're so miserable and don't want to be around us…He really didn't mean to teleport you here, as you well know." Daniel explained.

Dani paused for a few seconds before saying, "Whether he did mean to do it or not doesn't matter. I hate him, I always will…And he's not my dad, don't ever say that again!"

Seeing the anger in Dani's face was one thing but the hurt in her eyes was what sparked feeling of sympathy and guilt for her in Daniel. No child should feel deserted by their parent, Daniel wouldn't know what would happen if Vlad left him to fend for himself the way Danielle had been. Maybe it was for the best that he didn't know the full story behind their relationship.

"Look I'm sorry about what's happened." Daniel said earnestly, taking his hand away from the door and lowering it by his side. "I think we got off on the wrong foot, I don't want to row or fight with you."

Dani scanned Daniel's expression trying to detect a sign or get a sense of lying, she couldn't see it. A few seconds passed and she let out a long sigh before returning Daniel's sincerity.

"I don't wanna fight either." She admitted.

Dani recalled how the anger had boiled inside of her back when she fought with Vlad, the sickening nerves in her stomach when she had been manipulated into attacking Danny all that time ago. She wouldn't deny that she loved having ghost powers, especially since her ghost core was stabilised, but deep down she knew she wasn't a fighter. Fierce and fearless perhaps, but violence wasn't really her thing.

Daniel gave a small smile, "Truce?" He asked.

Dani continued to eye him suspiciously up and down, "Look I said I don't wanna fight, that doesn't mean that I trust you one bit. You're too loyal to Vlad, and I'd rather keep my distance from him which means I have to keep my distance from you."

Daniel casually paced around the room as suggestions popped into his head on how he could help his fellow cloned sibling. "Look I want to help you get out of here but you need to drop the attitude, where would you be right now if you never put a little faith in anyone?"

"I would still be stuck with Vlad, just like you are." She answered darkly. "Or I would be a puddle of ectoplasmic goo. Truthfully, I don't know which scenario is worse."

As the two young teenagers exchanged irritated glares their mouths dropped open as a wicked chuckle echoed in the room. Sure enough, as Dani gritted her teeth and clenched her fists, Vlad made himself visible right in front of the door, a cocky smirk painted on his face.

"You were intangible whilst we were talking?" Daniel said coldly, though it was more an observation than a question. He was instantly annoyed that his father felt the need to spy on him, especially in such a sneaky way.

"You creep!" Dani shouted as she leapt on to her feet and quickly transformed.

"Goodness, such an angry response from a girl who doesn't want to fight." Vlad mocked, "Frankly, I'm surprised that neither of you picked up on my ghost signature. It was too easy, but then again I'm used to dealing with much more experienced ghosts than you pair."

"Why were you spying on us? Daniel asked in a slight hostile tone, "It's not like we've anything to hide from you."

Hm, you my boy perhaps not." Vlad smiled, then he raised an accusing finger at Dani, "It's her whom I have concerns about."

"What are you talking about?" Dani snapped, "What could I possibly have to hide, I didn't choose to be here remember?"

"That may be true, but it wouldn't stop you from filling Daniel's head full of nonsense." Vlad retorted.

Dani merely rolled her eyes and replied, "If you had nothing to hide then you'd have nothing to worry about would you?"

Sensing an increase in hostility, Daniel bravely stepped in the gap between the other two half ghosts, directing his attention to his father. "Look it doesn't matter, you saw we weren't up to anything. We weren't even arguing."

Vlad paused for a minute as pondered on how what Daniel had said was true. "Yes, how very nice that the two of you are…getting along."

Dani scowled furiously at Vlad. "Stop it." She growled.

"Hm? Stop what dear girl?" Vlad queried in a false innocent tone.

"That look. I know that look." Dani accused, "You're planning something. You listen to me Plasmius, keep me out of your sick twisted schemes! I'm never being your fall girl ever again."

Daniel looked from one half ghost to the other with confusion as Dani continued to glare at Vlad whilst he laughed heartedly at her accusation. He couldn't be sure but either Dani was an incredibly paranoid girl, or she knew more about Vlad's mannerisms than what he had even seen of them.

"Oh this is priceless." Vlad spoke through his chuckles.

"And what could possibly be funny?" Daniel asked in an irritated tone, as he thought about the entire grim situation that the three of them were in and how completely unfunny it really was.

"Well, for starters I think it is quite humorous that Danielle is correct, as you could say that I am 'scheming.'" Vlad explained. "However having just overheard your previous conversation it might interest you both, particularly you Danielle, that I agree you should not be forced to stay here."

"What?" Dani cried in complete surprise.

"Really?" Daniel asked, hopeful that it seemed his conversation with his father may have actually paid off.

"Well yes, I mean let's be realistic." Vlad continued, "Danielle, it is clear that you would rather be stranded on a desert island than remain in this house with me. I personally have no use for you and frankly, I find your very personality nauseating."

"Agreed. And likewise." Dani replied coldly, feeling no need to sugar-coat facts. "So let down your shield thing for a few minutes and I'll be on my way."

"Well it's not quite that straightforward." Vlad explained. "Under no circumstances am I letting that shield down."

Dani groaned irritably, "There's always a catch with you! How am I supposed to leave if that shield stays up?"

Vlad paused for a few seconds before answering, almost second guessing what he was about to propose. "I have acces to a ghost portal here. I can activate it briefly, you can leave through there and go directly to the Fenton's portal."

"You want me to go through the Ghost Zone?" Dani asked, concerned.

She had been in the Ghost Zone only a handful of times, and that had been inside the Spector Speeder with Danny, who knew the Ghost Zone well. She wasn't sure if she could make her way from Vlad's portal to the Fenton's, it was unknown territory to her.

"That's my offer take it or leave it." Vlad said flatly.

Dani clenched her jaw at Vlad's unconcerned response, though she tried to hide her worry from him. It's not like he cared about the potential dangers which could await her in the Ghost Zone?

"You know what Vlad? I'm that desperate to get away from you that I want to agree right now on the spot, but how do I know you haven't got some nice little trap or some minion of yours waiting for me in the Ghost Zone to finish me off?"

"Well, I do understand your suspicions." Vlad smiled. He wasn't going to reassure Dani by informing her that he currently had no allies that he was aware of, and for that reason had pretty much stayed clear of the Ghost Zone.

"There's one thing I can offer you which will assure you that I have not set you up for any traps on your journey." Vlad explained, "It's also an unnegotiable offer so if you decline you will not be going anywhere."

Dani was becoming more wound up by the second. She wished Vlad would just rip the bandage off, stop playing games and let her go. She had definitely suffered here long enough, but there was no way she was going to carry out any dirty work for him.

"What do you want from me, Plasmius?" She asked in a low tone.

Vlad inhaled as he braced himself for the words about to come from his mouth, "The only way I am letting you get out of here and back to the Fenton's is if you agree to take Daniel with you."

 **()()()**


	13. Just let me out already

Danny groaned as he felt consciousness begin to creep over his body, along with several dull aches and pains which he was becoming more aware of as he drifted further and further away from unconsciousness.

"Danny...?"

"Danny?"

He heard familiar voices call to him, but they sounded more like whispers or someone calling from far away. But familiar all the same.

Danny eventually opened his heavy eyelids and saw his father and sister sitting at either side of his bed.

"Danny, are you okay son?" Jack said hurriedly, "Quick, I'll get a doctor!"

"What? Doctor?" Danny mumbled as it took him a few seconds to realize he was in a hospital bed. "No, I'm alright dad, really."

"Oh Danny thank goodness. We were all so worried." Jazz said softly as she set her hand on his arm. "The doctors couldn't even guess at how long it would take for you to wake up."

"Wake up?" Danny gasped, "How long have I been asleep? What's happened?"

Danny suddenly felt a twinge of fear and panic sweep over him, he had no memory of what had left him in such a state. Jazz desperately wanted to reassure him and tell him everything was okay, but she knew it really wasn't.

"Don't you remember son?" Jack asked, his voice coated with concern. "You got hurt fighting against...against Vlad in the lab yesterday."

Danny's eyes widened. "Yesterday? I've been out of it since yesterday?"

"You've pulled through pretty well though." Jazz said quickly, in hope of keeping her brother calm. "The doctor said your human half is in pretty good shape. You might want to rest your ghost half for a while though...you took a pretty big hit."

"From Vlad?" Danny asked, whilst trying to mask his shock.

Danny had taken some seriously hard hitting punches delivered by Vlad in the past, hard enough to force his ghost half to revert to human, even enough to knock him unconscious. But Vlad had never hospitalized him. But then again Danny couldn't help but wonder if that had been Vlad's intention this time only? One of Danny's biggest concerns in the past was that he was never sure about Vlad's capabilities. He always wondered if Vlad ever held back because he really did want a truce and want him as an apprentice, and on a creepier note as his son? As such, did he ever actually fight with the full force of his powers?

Danny stared down at the hospital blanket covering his sore body. It looked like his theory may have been confirmed; Vlad must have went easy on him in the past.

Jazz shot Jack a worried look, she knew he was thinking the same thing; should they tell Danny that it was his mother who fired the shot that put him in hospital?

"Uh...dad? Maybe we really should get a doctor." Jazz said in a slightly high pitched tone, "They really need to be informed that Danny has woke up, they'll probably want to check him over."

"You're right, princess, I'll go get someone." Jack said with urgency, beginning to march to the door."

"Wait! I'll go too...Uh, you might not find one, or get lost or something!" Jazz quickly blurted out as she swiftly fled past her father to the door.

"Okay..." Jack said, confused by his daughter's sudden anxious behaviour. He glanced back at Danny who had been lost in thought, but now looked equally confused as him. "Don't worry son, won't be long. We'll be back before you know it with a doctor to fix you up." He said as reassuringly as he could manage before leaving.

As he closed the room door behind him, Jazz was waiting for him. Her face was covered with worry. "Dad what do we do?" She said frantically.

Jack blinked at Jazz's panicked outburst. "...I thought we were getting a doctor to come look at Danny?"

"No! Well yes, but I mean about his injury. Do we...do we tell him mom fired the shot?"

Jack paused for a moment. His wife was currently at home, wracked with guilt. Being at the hospital was too much, she struggled seeing her son in the state he was in knowing that she was partly to blame. He wasn't sure how Maddie would feel if they told Danny, but then to lie to Danny would be unfair to him.

"Dad?" Jazz prompted, eagerly waiting his opinion. Her own conscious was equally eating away at her.

"I think we should tell him the truth." Jack answered, "Danny needs to know what happened to properly understand the situation...He won't blame you're mother, I'm sure of it. He needs to know what that monster did, and that he is fully responsible."

"Yeah. I think you're right. "Jazz replied softly.

"Good. Jazz I need to go get a doctor. I want you to wait with Danny, he shouldn't have to be alone right now. And don't worry about telling him anything we'll do that together. But first of all I'm calling you're mother, she needs to know Danny's awake. I bet she'll want to came in and see him...If she can get herself past those blasted reporters!" Jack said seriously.

Jazz gave him a small smile and nodded before her father walked off, grasping his cell phone in his hand. His strategic leadership pleasantly surprised her.

As she reentered the room Danny raised his head and looked at her, a blank expression on his face.

"You okay Danny?" She asked kindly as she pulled a chair closer to the side of his bed.

"Well, I guess I'm definitely doing better than what I was ten minutes ago." He joked lightly. "How come you're back? I thought you and dad were off to get a doctor."

"Dad just spoke to me quickly outside. He's just going to call mom real quick and tell her you're awake again, then he's gonna fetch someone to come and have a look at you. I decided to come back in and stay with you, it didn't feel right just running off as soon as you woke up from being knocked out for nearly a full day!" Jazz explained.

Danny smiled, he was happy that he would see his mom soon. Then maybe they would fully explain what was going on, as his memory was not kicking in at all.

"I'm glad you came back." Danny said to Jazz.

The two siblings exchanged smiles.

 **()()()**

Across town in the mayor's mansion an equally dramatic event was unfolding. Dani and Daniel stared at their 'father' for several seconds with their mouths hanging open in shock, stunned at his proposal. For Vlad this pause felt like an eternity, he understood their shock but found it unnerving. He had mentally prepared himself for an uproar of loud shouting and hands waving in the air. Led primarily by Danielle, of course.

Surprisingly, Daniel was the one who broke the silence.

"You're sending me away?" He asked, though his voice was little louder than a whisper.

Vlad's suggestion had been the younger clone's biggest fear. He didn't feel ready to be separated from his father, from little he had seen of the world he knew it could eat him alive. Did this mean Vlad was abandoning him like he had done to Dani? But what did he do wrong? And why would Vlad insist Dani take him with her when Vlad clearly despised the girl and she despised him.

Vlad's expression towards Daniel was sympathetic. He knew this would be hardest on him, but felt it would be for the best in the long run. After all, Vlad could offer him nothing but loneness and despair if Daniel stayed with him. In Vlad's mind the boy deserved better, a chance at least.

Before he could respond with an attempted reassurance, Dani spoke up.

"Vlad, I'm unfamiliar with the Ghost Zone. It'll be hard enough to look after myself without trying to keep my eye on your latest 'project'." She said coldly, eyeing Daniel. "It's too dangerous. Just let us out through the ghost shield."

"That's the very reason why I'm sending you into the Ghost Zone Danielle." Vlad began to explain. "I know for a fact that if I let you go here you would leave Daniel stranded somewhere without a care in the world. But I know you, girl. Your conscious wouldn't allow you to abandon anyone in the depths of the Ghost Zone. Therefore you'd be compelled to take him with you as you run home to the Fenton's."

"Vlad do you have any idea how insane that sounds?" Dani near screamed. "If you send us into the Ghost Zone we will both be stranded, I don't know the Ghost Zone. That means I'll be in danger and so will your precious Daniel."

"Don't lie." Vlad immediately snarled back at the girl, "I know you Danielle, you're savvy. Sneaky. And I know you travelled around a fair bit before and after your ghost core was stabled. You can't expect me to believe that you stayed in Amity Park the whole time? That you didn't meet other ghosts? Form alliances?"

Dani scowled. Vlad clearly had her figured out, even though it once angered her that he hadn't really bothered to get to know her. It didn't help that she had already almost agreed to go through the Ghost Zone before Daniel had been thrown into the deal. She knew she had a good chance on her own, but Vlad's annoying new puppet would hold her back, or even get her in trouble.

"And what if I refuse to go?" Daniel suddenly asked defiantly, deciding he had a voice in this debate which heavily involved him. Why would he go? There was nothing and no one for him in the world, at least with Vlad his safety wasn't compromised. Vlad was the only person he trusted and knew he cared about him.

Vlad inhaled a deep breath, attempting not to let his annoyance at Dani come out at Daniel and his insolence. The other clone folded her arms close to her chest and glared at younger half ghost. She felt she had been dealt a great injustice, not only did she dislike Daniel merely for his existence and affiliation with Vlad, but now her escape from Vlad was tied to him and his compliance.

"Daniel, you don't understand..." Vlad began to say with as much patience as he could muster. Though his fingers were pinching the bridge of his nose.

Daniel clenched his fists in anger. "Stop telling me I don't understand!" He interrupted, shouting in frustration. Vlad's eyes widened and Dani's arms dropped to her sides in surprise at Daniel's eruption.

"You seem to think that I'm not smart enough to understand anything, dad," The angry teen continued in a slightly calmer voice, "You're wrong. Why would I agree to go to some place I've never been to which is filled with dangerous ghosts? Especially accompanied by someone who doesn't even like me. Not only that, but you're suggesting that I go back to the home of the people who only just yesterday tried to kill us both. Ha, this is almost laughable! Now, is there something I'm not understanding dad, or is this not the most stupid idea you've ever had?"

Both Dani and Vlad were speechless. They each stared blankly at Daniel stupefied by his loud, yet logical outburst. Dani couldn't help but agree, having heard Daniel's perspective she herself was wondering why in the world Vlad was suggesting such a plan. But she also knew Vlad better, and knew he was likely to have ulterior motives. Vlad on the other hand was silently cursing the situation. This outburst proved that Daniel was clearly not going to help with getting to a solution. Daniel was also taking him by surprise, it seemed that his personality was changing about more and more. One minute Vlad could be speaking with a sweet, soft child, the next he was dealing with a loud and almost defiant teenager. Now what was that all about?

"Ya know Vlad," Dani said coyly, and finally breaking the silence, "Kid's got a point. So why don't you just let that shield down and then we can all do what we want?"

"You shut up!" Vlad roared at her, "Until I reach a solution you're not going anywhere, get that into your thick head right now!"

The truth was Vlad was feeling desperate. He felt sending Daniel to the Fenton's was his only option. Even though he despised Jack Fenton with all his being and now even had a strong dislike for Maddie, he knew Daniel could have a chance with them. After all, they prided themselves on having extensive knowledge about ghosts and being the good guys in everything. Vlad hated to believe it, but they could help despite being part of the overall problem.

"Well listen, what Daniel said does make sense." Dani argued. "Even by some chance that the two of us did make it through the Ghost Zone alive, Jack and Maddie would waste him on the spot."

"They didn't kill you did they?" Vlad challenged, "No. They gave you a chance, they helped you. Even though you were once affiliated to me, created by me. They still offered you a sanctuary."

Dani paused for a second. She looked at Daniel and sighed sadly, suddenly feeling a pang of pity for him. "They won't do that for Daniel, Vlad."

"Why not?" The man demanded, "How could you possibly know that?"

"Because Daniel isn't like me, not really. Daniel is like you, he is partly the clone of you. I'm not. I'm Danny's clone, completely Danny's clone. He's got you in him, anyone who knows that won't be able to look past that because it means there's...evil in him, like you. He may have some of Danny's traits in there but everyone's hatred of you will more than likely override that."

Vlad stood in silence as he listened to Dani. Now his worst fear was confirmed; Daniel would suffer because of his mistakes, and would be permanently out-casted. Daniel was slowly shaking head. He was struggling to process such harsh information. He wasn't evil. And neither was his father, was he? But then why did the lady on the news say something similar about him?

"Not to mention, you two royally messed up yesterday." Dani continued, "After what's happened to Danny the Fenton's will take one look at Daniel and shoot now, ask questions never."

Daniel stopped shaking his head worryingly and shot an angry glare at Dani, feeling like he had been targeted for a hate crime. "Hang on, we messed up?" He snapped.

"Daniel, don't." Vlad warned.

"No, no dad this isn't right." Daniel continued, his malice glare still pinned on Dani. "How did we mess up? It was you and the Fenton's who came after us. You targeted us, we didn't come near you. In fact, we tried bloody hard to avoid any kind of conflict. This just isn't fair, how does that make us the bad guys? Did we shoot Danny? I don't think so! And you know what? Anything else bad that has happened as a result of yesterday really doesn't sit on our heads. It's your faults, your problems, because we weren't the ones who came looking for a fight! So I don't know about the others, those Fentons, but you should stop playing the martyr and just deal with it!"

Anger seethed up inside of Dani, her teeth clenched and her eyes glowed. How dare he not take any blame, say it was all their faults? She wanted to attack him, hurt him. Badly. She wasn't sure what was holding her back at this second in time. Perhaps she was mentally saving her energy for Vlad? After all he was the true cause of everything that had gone wrong over the past couple of days, and the months that preceded them.

Vlad smirked as he watched Dani's reaction. He was also very impressed at how easily and convincingly Daniel had shirked all of the blame away them, made them appear almost victimized. He'd even persuaded Vlad, the older half ghost had only wished there had been more people around to have heard him. Perhaps the boy had the makings of a great politician in him. There was one thing Vlad did know however, and that was he had to step in between the two teenagers before one killed the other.

As he stepped forward he realised it was true, sending the two of them off alone was a terrible idea. One which would only end in a blood bath.

"Well, I think that's perhaps enough debating for one day." Vlad announced sardonically, trying to hide the traces of a smirk.

Dani changed the direction of her anger from Daniel to Vlad. "So that's it then? Your offer of letting me go is taken away as quickly as it was offered?"

Vlad raised an eyebrow. He had told her that leaving without Daniel was unnegotiable, and right now in this moment he would have loved to do nothing more than dash her hopes of escaping clean away. But Daniel's words from earlier still lingered with him, if he kept her trapped in the mansion he would most likely look like some crazy kidnapper. Whereas if he let Dani go out of good faith there would be less to slander him on.

"No my dear, the offer for you to leave is still on the table." Vlad said lightly.

"What?" The two teenagers cried out together.

Dani was shocked, Vlad never stood down, and he never did anything out of the goodness of his heart. So what was his game? Daniel on the other hand was furious. He had forgotten everything he'd said about letting Dani go, he now felt she should remain there with them to rot as punishment for playing a part in causing so much destruction to their lives. He just prayed his father still wasn't convinced on sending him with her, where ever she went.

"Yes you can go if you want." Vlad confirmed. "Lord knows you're not doing me any favors loitering about here."

Dani broke eye contact for a second to look at Daniel. "What about him?" She asked grimly.

Vlad turned his head and smiled at Daniel, then rested his hand gently on his head for a second. "Surprisingly, I've changed my mind. Daniel has made it clear that he feels he's better off here, and who knows he may be right. Perhaps I overestimated the Fentons and their so called kindness."

Daniel was able to produce a small smile for his father, whilst he shook his head free from under his palm.

"So I can go? On my own? Right now?" Dani asked in disbelief.

"That's right." Vlad responded. "If you want we can go to my lab now and activate the portal for a few seconds. Though I warn you, once you're out, you're out. The portal goes straight back off again."

"So that's still a no on the ghost shield around the house then?" Dani mumbled irritably.

"I told you I'm not turning it off for any reason." Vlad sharply answered, "I don't know who or what is wandering around out there, and I'm not wanting to draw attention to this location. The shield requires such a large dose of energy switching it on and off suddenly could cause faults with the street's electrics or trigger an alarm."

"What will that matter?" Dani asked coyly, "How do you know that I won't blab to every camera and newspaper where you are as soon as I'm outta here?"

Daniel glared at her for her impertinent question whilst Vlad merely shrugged uncaringly in response. "That's up to you. My location won't be secret forever, I have no illusions about that. I'd simply prefer the word get out later than sooner."

"So my options are the Ghost Zone or stay in the snow globed house?" Dani asked scornfully.

"Precisely." Vlad answered seriously.

"What time does your lab open?"

 **()()()**

It felt like hours since Danny had woken up. He had been checked over, and over. By several different doctors. No one really wanted to discharge him due to the fact that he had been knocked unconscious for nearly a whole day. Most people would require some surveillance after something like that. However Danny proved to be quite the anomaly as all of his tests and checks came back normal. If this were any other patient's results there would have been no reason to keep him in hospital, provided a logical explanation for the unconsciousness was known.

But of course, Danny was no ordinary patient. No other person had been admitted to hospital with injuries as a result of fighting ghosts. Well, Jack Fenton had years ago, but it was nothing serious, more like a run-of-the-mill usual DIY accident, He had more or less been laughed out of the emergency room.

It is fair to say, no one was laughing now. Everyone took the matter of ghosts very seriously in the present.

Today was an example of one of the reasons why Danny was glad everyone knew he was part ghost, he was able to explain to the doctors that it was his ghost half that had taken the injuries and unless there was a spectral specialist among their medical staff they would not be able to help him.

They began to make headway with his discharge papers after that.

Danny couldn't help but now understand why Vlad had been so bitter about the time he was forced to stay in hospital all those years ago, no one could help him but no one could let him leave either. It was frustrating for Danny and it had only been a couple hours, Vlad had been stranded for years in a hospital bed.

Maddie had since joined her family at the hospital after hearing the good news from Jack. Although extremely relieved that Danny was awake and seemed perfectly fine, she wasn't as sure about letting him out of the hospital as the rest of the family.

"I just wanted them to be double sure that you're okay before letting you out." She crooned to her son, who was sat on top of the bed, eagerly waiting to leave.

Danny smiled at his mom, he knew she was feeling guilty about the gun shot but he didn't blame her for a second. In fact, he'd felt terrible when his mother poured out an apology, practically begging for his forgiveness, The tears in her eyes were enough to make his own eyes water out of sadness for his loving mother. Of course Danny knew it was just another one of Vlad's cruel tricks, only this time it was hurting Maddie the most, someone Danny never thought Vlad would ever target.

This was one of many reasons why Danny was keen to get out of the hospital, he was desperate to go after Vlad and rip him apart just like the rest of Amity Park, although his motives were on a much more personal level, as they had been from the moment they'd first met. He was relieved that his dad and sister had told him exactly what had happened, for a short while after he'd woke up he'd strongly began to doubt his abilities, especially when scored against Plasmius. Now he was filled with rage towards the older half ghost, for everything he'd done.

"I'm fine mom, honestly." Danny told Maddie, "I just feel like I've had a long nap. Trust me, I'll feel much better once I get out of here... And find Plasmius."

Jazz gave her brother a worried look. "Danny the whole town is trying to hunt Vlad down. You can't go after him too, we don't even know where to begin to look. Besides you need to rest your ghost half for a few days to ensure a full recovery."

"But he took Dani, Jazz." Danny fretted, "How can I sit back and relax knowing that she's trapped with him?"

"Dani's a smart kid, son." Jack reassured, "I'm sure she can keep Vlad off her back until we get our hands on him."

Danny didn't say anything but he certainly didn't feel reassured. The last time Vlad was left alone with Dani he had her clamped to a table and practically watched her dissolve into goop. But Danny decided to spare his family the details from that horrific incident, he just silently prayed that Vlad wouldn't hurt her this time. After all, it seemed like he finally had his perfect clone now. He had no reason to...dissect Dani.

"Say...did anyone look to see if Vlad's hiding in the old mayor's mansion?" Jack mused out loud.

His family each looked at him with an arched eyebrow.

"Vlad's an evil genius, Jack." Maddie pointed out, "He wouldn't be stupid enough to hide in hid old house. Besides, I heard that the authorities really tore the place apart when he vanished after the Disasteroid incident, I don't think the place is even livable now."

"Maybe he's hiding in the Ghost Zone." Jazz suggested. It seemed logical to her, Vlad was a powerful ghost and the Ghost Zone was vast with very few humans having the ability or technology to enter to search for him.

"He could be anywhere." Danny sighed, "Probably scheming away, plotting his next attack."

Maddie put her arms gently around him, wishing she could absorb all the worry and stress away from her son.

"It'll be okay Danny." She said soothingly. "Sometimes it takes a little while but it always comes okay in the end."

"Your mother's right son." Jack enthused, "We're Fentons. And nobody messes with the Fentons and gets away with it!"

Danny smiled. He loved his family so much, now that they knew the truth he didn't know how he'd ever coped with being half ghost without their support.

"First things first, we need to get Dani back. She needs to be safe." Danny stated.

"No, first thing is you rest properly." Maddie said firmly. "Danny you're no use to anyone if your ghost half isn't stable, you took a horrible hit in your ghost form. I would know...If you want to give anyone, or yourself for that matter a chance against Vlad, you need to allow yourself time to recover back to full power."

"And that's only if Vlad gets past me!" Jack boomed. "I swear if he comes anywhere near my family again, I won't need supernatural powers to take him down!"

The family smiled at Jack's boasting, a quirk they had all grown used to over the years and all found humourous to some extent.

A few moments later a doctor had arrived to deliver Danny's discharge papers to his parents. Jack signed it and Danny eagerly got off the bed.

"Come on, let's go home." Danny said to his family.

"That's the best thing I've heard all day." Jazz replied with a smile. She was so happy and relieved that Danny was coming with them, given that morning she didn't know if he would ever leave the hospital again.


	14. Roads Untraveled

Dani could feel her heart pounding as she watched Vlad mash at buttons on a control panel. She was already in ghost form, waiting with anticipation. His 'secret' lab, though not the same one in which she had been created, was equally as cold and creepy as the one she recalled from her earlier days. It resembled that of a hospital room in some kind of science-horror movie. Quite fitting, considering to her Vlad very much resembled the sort of villain you would see in such movies. She shivered slightly as the machinery surrounding her began to make noises.

Daniel was also in the lab with them, though under strict instruction that he remain seated by panel and under no circumstances was he to touch anything. Daniel had pouted slightly, feeling that his father was once again showing a lack of trust in him and continuing to treat him as though he were a small child. Vlad was picking up that his actions were beginning to get on his cloned son's nerves but he didn't care, Daniel's high level of curiosity plus the terrible luck Vlad was having could only equal a huge disaster. He was reluctant to even let Daniel in his lab at all.

Granted, Vlad had been correct about Daniel's curiosity, the lab fascinated him. It was very modern, high tech, and shiny. There were many computers, gadgets and tools placed around the room, Daniel could almost feel his fingers itch out of desperation to get his hands on them. Of course, the big prize was the Ghost Portal. Daniel just knew in his gut that behind those hazard lined doors hid something amazing. He almost felt slightly jealous now that Dani was permitted to go in and he wasn't.

Prompted by his thoughts Daniel glanced over at Danielle, and wondered why there was no excitement or happiness in her expression. After all, she was getting what she wanted, getting to leave and go home, even getting to go through the mysterious Ghost Zone. To get there, whilst Daniel remained stuck in the broken mansion. He didn't understand what was wrong with her, but then again ever since he'd first met her she came across as miserable and angry, so he reckoned he shouldn't be surprised.

Dani happened to catch Daniel staring out of the corner of her eye. She met his gaze and shot him a dirty look, as though to confirm her anger. Rather than question her distain Daniel shot her a glare straight back, there didn't seem to be any point in trying with her, seeing as she was always cross for no reason.

Despite working at the controls of his mainframe Vlad still managed to notice this brief non-verbal exchange between the two young clones. If it wasn't for the dire situation they were in Vlad would have almost found it funny. Although he no longer classed Danielle as his daughter, it appeared she still somehow managed to strike up an unusual form of sibling rivalry with Daniel. Vlad wasn't particularly worried, he figured once he got rid of Dani now, he and Daniel would never have the trouble of clapping eyes on her again.

Daniel removed his attention from Dani and began to focus on what his father was doing, amused by how working such complex controls came easy to him.

"I know you said I'm not allowed to touch these things," Daniel said, breaking what had felt like a long silence, "But maybe you could show me how it all works? It looks so cool."

Vlad gave Daniel a quick look with a smile, "All in good time, my boy." He gently responded, prompted Daniel to smile back.

Dani's blood boiled from watching the positive communication between the two. It made her sick to her stomach, Vlad had never been genuine with her. All of his caring motives towards her in the past had been fake and manipulative, she was sure of it. She was sure Danny was right, that Vlad had been lying and really had no intent to keep her or care for her. She focused on Daniel, her eyes like daggers. What made him so special? So perfect? Would Vlad ever get rid of him as easy as he did with her? Could he stand by and watch if he ever had a cellular breakdown and was slowly dripping into an ectoplasmic puddle? These questions tormented her and she feared they would continue to do so.

Dani scowled as she continued to silently observe. Daniel was engrossed in watching Vlad, a soft smile on his expression. It made Dani feel nauseous, did she used to look at Vlad like that? And it was so obvious that Vlad was loving the attention and affection Daniel was feeding him. It was just wrong.

' _Vlad doesn't deserve to be happy'_ Dani thought grimly to herself. _'He makes him happy.'_

Her negative thoughts were interrupted by a red glow coming from a bulb perched just above the Ghost Zone entrance.

"It's active." Vlad confirmed, turning to face Dani, "Right, this is it. I'm opening those doors for five seconds, if you're not through them too bad I close them, activation terminates. This is also a one way street, once you're through the doors they're closed and I deactivate the portal again. Do you understand?"

Dani coldly nodded, she was desperate to get away from Vlad and Daniel. However her anger had begun to develop a hunger for vengeance...

"Alright then. Goodbye, good riddance!" He said darkly.

Dani glared furiously, how she hated that man. She waited until his finger left the button that opened the portal...and fired a forceful ecto-blast directly at his chest.

Vlad, who wasn't expecting an attack, was in his human form. He gave out a cry of shock and pain as he was hit and fired to the back wall with incredible force. Due to the shock and being winded, he didn't respond right away.

"Dad!" Danny cried, horrified by the sudden attack.

He didn't wait to see if Vlad was alright, but turned and looked towards an infuriated Dani, his eyes glowing red. "You're going to pay for that!" He yelled, quickly transforming into his full ghost half, with every intention of hurting the girl.

Dani smirked, as though to encourage his fury. Not so deep down, she wanted to hurt him too.

The two young half ghosts leapt into the air and dove into each other head on, starting a raging battle. There was some use of ecto-rays, and a lot of force, but they weren't necessarily focused on using their ghost powers. The teenager's mindsets were whatever hurt the most were the best moves.

Vlad came round very quickly, and was horrified to see the two teenager's fiercely fighting each other with no mercy within a very short distance from the open Ghost Portal! Vlad quickly scrambled to his feet and transformed. He could care less about Dani, or any wondering ghost which could try to take advantage of the open portal, but he was fearful that if Daniel accidental fell in he could very quickly get sucked into the realms and become lost in the world unfamiliar to him.

Despite being caught up fighting Daniel, Dani still noticed the flash of Vlad's transformation out of the corner of her eye. Her heart skipped a beat and she knew she would have to think fast and multi-task.

Dani suddenly panicked that there was now a good chance that Vlad would lose his temper and close the portal, forcing her to be trapped with them. She couldn't let that happen, she couldn't stand to be around Vlad any longer.

Before Dani really had any chance to react, due to Daniel's repeated blows, Vlad ripped the two of them apart, pulling Daniel to one side and pushing her away with force causing her to land nearer to the control panel.

"You don't move!" Vlad snapped at her. "Do not try anything, if you know what's good for you!"

Dani glared at him as she tried to catch her breath. She knew she was in trouble now, though she was getting a few seconds to prepare herself as Vlad turned his head to address Daniel.

"And you!" Plasmius roared at Daniel, clutching the boy's suit in his fist, forcing him to stand on tiptoe. "What did you think you were doing?"

Daniel scowled at his father, "Why are you yelling at me? I was only trying to defend you!"

Dani watched the row in surprise, Vlad seemed to be genuinely mad, but why? It's not like fighting was unusual for any of them, and there was no real damage done...

"How many times do I need to tell you?" Vlad continued to rant, "I do not need you to defend me, or fight my battles! Don't you realize the danger you were in?"

Danger? Where was the danger? Dani knew she could sock a punch but she would never do anything lethal to the likes of Daniel...

Dani's eyes widened when she suddenly took notice of the spiraling green spectral energy which was twirling through the opened portal. Just a few feet directly behind where Vlad and Daniel where stood.

 _There_ was the danger.

Dani then understood why Vlad was freaking out so much, he'd been worried that Daniel could have fallen into the Ghost Zone.

Dani continued to watch Vlad rave away at Daniel, when a devious smirk fell upon her face. She was desperate to get away from the fruitloop by any means necessary, however the thought of going into the Ghost Zone alone still didn't appeal to her.

Perhaps there was another way...

Vlad was so distracted by Daniel that he didn't even notice the ball of green ecto-energy that Dani had formed, until it head him hard in the stomach.

Ironically, the force from the hit hurled Vlad backwards, and he fell through the portal, and into the Ghost Zone.

 **()()()**

"AHH!" Vlad yelled as he felt the impact from the attack and the sudden change in atmosphere sweep over his body. He knew instantly that he had been thrust into the Ghost Zone.

When he stopped moving and came to his senses. He looked back to where his portal was located. He was just in time to watch the portal slam shut.

"No!" He exclaimed. He quickly flew up to it but there was no point, Dani had somehow managed to lock the doors, even if the portal still remained active.

"I can't just wait here and hope that the portal will sporadically open again." Vlad thought aloud. "Blast that wretched girl! I should have destroyed her when I had the chance!"

Anger seethed through his entire body. Vlad hated to be tricked and it seemed Danielle had reversed the whole situation. It was almost funny, less than minutes ago Vlad had been yelling at Daniel due to fighting with Dani and fighting his battles, now he nearly hoped that his cloned son was ripping the half ghost girl apart because of her actions. He wasn't sure what the two of them would do now that he'd been removed from the picture, but he wasn't sure what was worse; Daniel being left alone with Danielle, or simply being left alone.

Vlad was aware that Dani held a lot of anger and resentment towards Daniel, and Daniel certainly wasn't fond of her. But Vlad wasn't sure how Daniel would cope if he was left all alone in the mansion. He didn't even want to consider the different events that could take place as result of him not being there to support him, Vlad knew that the best thing to do was to think of or find something that would get him out of the Ghost Zone. The ghosts managed to do it all the time, how hard could it be?

He knew exactly where the Fenton's portal was and it would almost guarantee a way out for him. However, if the Fenton were home, he'd be dead. No doubt they were holding a grudge on him over Danny's hospitalization...on top of everything else. Ridiculous really, Vlad was certain Danny would survive the hit no problem and Vlad wasn't even the one who had shot him in the first place! But despite the details, leaving via the Fenton's portal was not an option.

As he roamed through the eerily silent realm, Plasmius never entertained the idea that a day like this would come; when he would be stranded in the Ghost Zone, fearful of the very ghosts who populated it. Yes, Vlad had grown very wary about ghosts since returning to earth. After the Disasteroid incident which threatened everyone's very existence, Vlad was unsure of how much the ghosts were actually aware of his participation in the deadly asteroid's origin...Or what they would do to him if they did know everything.

Nevertheless, when Vlad isolated himself from humanity he did so with ghosts too. He knew he had to get out of the Ghost Zone as soon as possible, if anyone found out he was there he could end up facing a mass attack, or thrown in Walker's jail. Vlad wasn't sure which scenario was worse.

As the experienced half ghost continued to wander aimlessly, he considered if it would be wise to seek out Skulker. The hunting ghost had been a longtime ally of Plasmius' and the two of them had developed a mutual respect for one another, However Vlad wasn't sure if that still stood now after everything that had happened. He knew that if Skulker was angry or held a grudge, he would definately put up a good fight. Skulker also had many contacts within the Ghost Zone and other ghosts made a point to listen to him, and had more than once followed his lead. So, if the Ghost Zone's greatest hunter decided that Vlad Plasmius was to be his next prey...

Vlad decided it was probably for the best not to seek out help from Skulker.

Vlad sighed heavily in annoyance as useless ideas continued to swarm his mind. He didn't have time for this! He had no business being in the Ghost Zone. He could think of only one ghost whose sense of loyalty was so strong and committed that he may overlook any distasteful deed.

The Fright Knight.

Plasmius had fought with him once, back when he'd been allied with the Ghost King, Pariah Dark. However Vlad had been able to talk him around, it ended up that Fright Knight switched alliances and was able to help ensure that Plasmius was able to lock the evil king back in the Sarcophagus of Forever Sleep...with the help of Danny Phantom.

Vlad frowned, that was another mistake he now regretted. He could have left Danny for dead there and then after the battle was won against Pariah Dark, but instead took the unconscious boy back to his family. That good gesture certainly didn't do him any favors in the long run!

Plasmius hadn't seen Fright Knight since that battle, but they had left one another on good terms. Vlad promised him that in return for an alliance he would be a free ghost, and he was. Ever since the Ghost King was locked away again the Fright Knight answered to no one and was free to do his own bidding as he wished. A privilege he was not entitled to whilst serving Pariah Dark.

Vlad had never really thought back before on how he'd helped Fright Knight. Surely that meant he now owed him a favor? Not to mention Fright Knight gladly served under the Ghost King and he was a far worse guy than Vlad, right?

Vlad took a few more minutes to think it through, but really he was out of options. He was going to need help in getting out of the Ghost Zone fast and there were so many risks surrounding him. So he made his decision; to find the Fright Knight and hope his sense of loyalty was still intact.

 **()()()**

Daniel had pushed his arms out to protect himself when he was knocked to the floor of the lab. He had seen the flash of green light which had been the glow of the ectoplasmic blast, and he had heard the surprised yell Vlad gave out when he was hit by it. But he did not expect to see what happened next.

Due to the force of the hit, Vlad abruptly let go of Daniel which had caused him to fall. However the cloned teenager quickly lifted his head to see what was going on and assess what he needed to do. He looked up just in time to witness his father fall through the mysterious portal into the unknown world that intrigued him so.

"No!" Daniel cried out in fear, scrambling on to his feet. His father was gone. Gone into the strange dimension which felt almost forbidden. Despite this he quickly contemplated jumping in after Vlad and joining him. After all, what was he without his father? Vlad was his protector, and aside from their isolated cabin, the destroyed mansion and the hostile female clone, Vlad was all Daniel knew. Due to this attachment, Daniel quickly pushed aside his fears and was about to run and leapt through the portal himself.

But he was too late, the doors enabled the transference from one world into the next suddenly slammed shut.

"What? No!" Daniel gasped in confusion. Why did they close? How would he get his father back now?

He then swiftly flung his body around, suddenly recalling there was a threat in the lab, the one who had hit Vlad with the ecto blast, Danielle.

Sure enough, the girl was stood by the control panel, glaring coldly at Daniel. Her left hand was sitting casually by the buttons on the panel, the same ones Vlad had used to active the panel. Clearly the girl recalled more from her early days than she let on, for it was obvious that she had now used the very same controls to close the portal, locking Vlad inside the Ghost Zone.

"You!" Daniel screamed accusingly at Dani, who hadn't moved an inch, and marched over to her. "What have you done?"

"He had it coming!" Dani said grimly.

"Open those doors right now!" Daniel demanded. "We have to bring him back."

" _I_ don't have to do anything." Dani said smugly, "I hope he never comes out of there. Vlad can rot in the Ghost Zone for all I care, it will still be too good for him."

"But-But..." Daniel stammered, his shock robbing him of his words.

"Good riddance." Dani smiled, "My only regret is that you didn't fall in there with him. Guess now I'm stuck here with you until I figure out how to take down that blasted ghost shield. Or at least find some way of contacting someone on the outside."

Daniel was almost dumbstruck. He couldn't believe how little Dani cared about the dire situation she'd created. "You...you can't just do this!"

"I already have!" Dani snapped, "Now shut up and stay out of my way, or I'll show you what I'm really capable of."

Daniel's face saddened. He wasn't frightened of her, but he was certainly frightened for his father. The composed girl who he had come close to reasoning with earlier that day was gone. Now stood an angry girl with vengeance in her heart.

Dani finally moved away from Daniel. She quickly flounced around the lab, reading computer screens and mashing buttons in a desperate attempt to find some way of connecting with the ghost shield which concealed her within the mansion like a prisoner.

After about half an hour of trying to navigate hard drives and wrong button pressing, which had only resulted in error messages and objective bleeping noises, Dani was losing her patience for her desperate quest.

"Uhh!" She growled with irritation. "This is all your fault!" She snapped at Daniel, who looked at her with contempt and confusion. "If you hadn't have attacked me when we first landed here I might have seen how Vlad put up the shield, then I'd know how to take it down."

Daniel, who was stood nearby leaning tiredly against one of the cold walls, scoffed at her logic. But then again he had no bright ideas either, if Dani wasn't going to open the portal then what could he do? He didn't want to be sitting around with nothing to do but worry. He daren't leave Dani alone in the lab, even though her presence made him nearly shake with anger, he wanted to make sure she caused no more irreversible damage.

There was a part of him deep down, that wanted to hurt Dani for what she'd done, No, rip her apart. Make her physically suffer the extent of the mental torture he was going through now because of her haste actions.

But Daniel knew that if he allowed this vengeful anger overpower him and hurt Dani, really hurt her, then he knew he'd regret it and probably hate himself forever for being so weak and giving into hate and anger. For the emotional pain that Dani was feeling was clear to Daniel, her eyes spoke volumes of a traumatic history that he could only imagine. And to add physical pain to that emotional hurt would only be cruel, and it certainly wouldn't make him feel any better and definitely wouldn't bring Vlad back.

"My guess is he wouldn't have let you see regardless." Daniel said with no emotion.

"What?" Dani hissed in irritation, quickly forgetting the course of conversation.

"Dad. Whether or not we'd been fighting, he still probably wouldn't have let you down here to see how the shield works. Just in case you planned something. He's not stupid." Daniel explained in a bored tone.

Dani glared at her cloned counterpart, pausing from her search of the lab's various technologies. "You really need to stop putting Vlad on a pedestal." She said seriously. "And stop calling him 'dad.' Stealing DNA and baking someone in some science-y human oven doesn't make them a parent."

"You're one to talk, weren't you 'cooked' in the same 'oven?'" Danny sneered. "Why should I listen to you? Just because you know where I came from? You know nothing about me."

"I know more than you realize!" She exclaimed. "You forget I've been where you are. I know...I know what's it's like to think Vlad is the best thing in the world."

Dani quickly lowered her head to try and disguise some of her sadness from Daniel. It was a hard thing to admit, and something she'd never really talked about before, her old view of Vlad. His trickery and using of her still stung, feeling like a fresh wound which was taking too long to heal.

"But I was able to develop my own perception, and could finally see things for what they really are..." She continued somberly. "If you ever want to be happy, _truly_ happy, you'll do the same thing.

Daniel chose not to reply to her melancholy ramblings, but raised an eyebrow as her words sunk in. Had he not been truly happy before all this mess occurred? Thinking back to the cabin out in the Rockies Daniel recalled how he'd loved it, just him and his father. However, putting that into context now Daniel began to wonder that after having so much excitement, albeit the negative sort, he questioned if going back to that lifestyle in isolation would be boring in comparison. Regardless, none of had anything to do with Vlad, and why Dani had such a jaded view of him at best.

Having refocused on her task, Dani noticed that Daniel had become lost in thought.

"Hey!" She called loudly, almost making him jump. "Instead of standing around doing nothing, why don't you try and help me find some way to turn that blasted ghost shield off?"

Daniel looked at her in distain, "And why would I help you?"

"You wanna be stuck in this huge busted up house forever?" She asked sarcastically.

"Being stuck in here is better than what's waiting out there." Daniel answered, not missing a beat.

"What are you talking about?" Dani persisted impatiently.

"Well, the minute that shield comes down you'll be off to find your friends-those Fenton people. And given our last encounter, another run in will most likely not bode well for me." Daniel said, a hint of worry in his voice, "Right now that ghost shield is the only thing protecting me."

Dani paused for a moment, collecting her thoughts. Daniel thought the Fenton's would hurt him? To be fair she understood why, after everything that happened. But she was sure that the Fenton's wouldn't hurt Daniel, without reason that is, and with Vlad out of the picture there wasn't one.

Dani didn't like Daniel. At all. He was like Vlad in more ways than she cared to list, right down to his somewhat formal mannerisms. He'd also seemed to have more prominence of Danny's negative traits too, stubbornness being high on the list.

But even with all of that, Dani didn't want to see Daniel hurt, or even stuck. Which is what he was now, without Vlad. With Plasmius out of the way, she knew he maybe stood a chance, if given one. After all, despite all his flaws, he was still like her. A clone, a child of the chamber forced into the world against his own will to an evil half ghost who could never care about anyone's needs but his own.

Maybe if Daniel could understand this, he'd be okay.

"No one would hurt you, Daniel." Dani said softly. "All that stuff that happened last time, that wasn't about you it was about Vlad, and I think you know that. You don't need him or some ghost shield to protect you. You need help. You need to trust us. I know you don't see it now but Vlad is a dangerous man. I'm not asking you to agree with me or even like me, but you need to step back and look at the situation. Removing Vlad from the picture makes it right."

Daniel's strong sense of loyalty was eating away at him. He really wanted to take a swing at her now. How dare she say such things about his- _their_ \- father? No wonder Vlad no longer associated with her. Removing him about the picture made things right? Was that supposed to justify blasting him into the Ghost Zone and locking him in?

But she was right about one thing...

With Vlad gone he had no one to help him. And he needed help, he knew this. He was too new to the world and didn't know hardly anything about it. He couldn't stay in the busted up mansion for long either; it was uncomfortably cold, the furnishings were damp and dirty, and most importantly there was no food. This was an urgent matter for Daniel as he hadn't eaten in well over a day.

So Dani was right on that account, they did need the ghost shield down. Both of them.

It was only now that Daniel realized how scarily low on options he really was. Once the ghost shield was down, he could make a run for it and hope for the best. But that would mean resorting to stealing and pickpocketing which would almost certainly lead to trouble.

Or he could go with Dani.

He would have to fake his trust in her and that family, of course. He would have to pretend, in order to survive. Maybe he could spy on them? _Yes, what a great idea!_ Then when he returned to Vlad, once he gets out of the Ghost Zone, he could prove his loyalty and help Vlad get a few steps ahead of them and their sneaky ways.

One thing was certain though, the shield needed deactivating. Laying his trust down for his girl made his survival adrenalin race around his body like a horse on a track.

"Alright...Dani." He rasped a fabricated agreement, "What are we looking for, here?"


	15. Planning Ahead

Despite being glad to be home and out of the hospital, Danny was restless. He could not content himself in his room or in the lounge, so he continuously paced around his home with concerning thoughts flowing wildly around in his head. Of course, this led his family members to worry, they had hoped Danny would rest and take it easy when he got out of the hospital. His behaviour made them feel uneasy, particularly his mother, who was still wrapped with guilt over Danny being hospitalised in the first place.

"Hey son, why don't you sit down and relax a bit? All of your wondering around is making me dizzy." Jack said humorously, although the concern in his tone did not go unnoticed.

"How can I relax dad? He's out there and he's got Dani with him." Danny fretted.

Jack and Maddie looked at one another. They both heard the fear in their son's voice and naturally they wanted to help. Though they knew there was very little they could do to alleviate Danny's worries.

"I know this is all very unsettling for you sweetie," Maddie said softly, as she walked over to Danny and gently put her hands on his shoulders. Danny looked at her with wide eyes. "But try to remember that Dani is a strong and fierce character, she's just like you after all! She can handle that demented creep Vlad Masters."

Danny gave Maddie a small smile for her efforts, "I know mom. I'm gonna go lie down upstairs for a bit."

"Okay Danny." Maddie said, releasing his shoulders and returning his smile.

As Danny started up the stairs he saw Jazz waiting halfway up. She had stopped to observe her parents talking to Danny, she was coming down to do the exact same thing as she was also worried about him. So she had heard the conversation.

As Danny slowly passed her on the stairs he quickly whispered to her, "It's not Vlad I'm worried about."

Jazz raised her eyebrows, she knew she had to follow Danny and speak to him about what he meant. She realised her parents had noticed her, and were probably wondering why she was not continuing her way down the stairs.

"Oops…Forget my phone!" Jazz stammered, and darted back up the stairs. Just like before when Danny's ghost half was a secret, Jack and Maddie didn't blink an eye at this, and they didn't suspect a thing from Jazz's obvious suspicious behaviour.

Jazz sped along the landing and burst into Danny's room without even knocking. Danny was sat up on his bed, and raised an eyebrow at her intrusion.

"What do you mean it's not Vlad you're worried about?" Jazz demanded as she closed the door.

"Isn't it obvious?" Danny replied.

The two siblings then entered into a long and deep conversation, trying to unravel Danny's fears.

"Danny, what can be worse than Vlad Masters?" Jazz finally queried after some time, "Except, you know, Vlad Plasmius?

"It's that new clone Jazz." Danny said seriously. "He's got a mix of mine and Vlad's DNA, now who does that remind you of?"

Jazz gasped as she suddenly recalled the frightening older ghost version of Danny who had come out of his time period, attacked her, and tried to eliminate everyone close to Danny. He had been one terrifying ghost. When Danny later explained to her where he came from and how he'd come to exist, she'd been horrified and if she hadn't witnessed him first hand she wouldn't have believed it.

Jazz listened as Danny continued to explain, "When I defeated that ghost, that…version of me, he made it clear that he still existed, that there would be a way for him to come back. What if this new clone is it? What if he grows strong and turns evil? He is potentially incredibly dangerous Jazz, and considering he's loyal to Vlad is not helping matters. I want to find Dani and get her away from him. From both of them."

Jazz thought for a moment, sitting at the end of the bed by Danny's feet. She hadn't seen much of the new clone. From what she had seen she could believe he was completely loyal to Vlad, but evil? She remembered how he had shoved her mother away to protect Vlad, if he'd wanted to he could have really hurt her with his ghost powers, but didn't.

"I think you're right Danny." Jazz finally said, "The clone is potentially dangerous, but he is still newly formed, highly influential." She mused aloud.

"What are you saying?" Danny asked, leaning forward with curiosity.

"I'm saying if we can get to him without Vlad being in the picture, we might be able to talk him round." Jazz explained.

"You think he should stay with us?" Danny scorned.

"Well Dani wasn't always on our side, was she? Look at her now she's like one of the family." Said Jazz.

Danny sighed. "Jazz, as ideal as that would be, you're forgetting that this clone isn't like Dani. He has Vlad's DNA too, he has an evil streak in him."

"Danny don't write him off just because of his DNA. That's very closed minded." Jazz lightly scolded. "Everyone has a conscious that helps them to make good or bad choices. Vlad often chooses bad, but he can be good too, I've seen it."

"What?" Danny blurted out, "Since when has Vlad been good?"

"Danny, you're letting your hatred of Vlad cloud your judgement. Remember the very first time you and I met Vlad? He was nice to us and really welcoming."

"He slammed the door in dad's face and tried to hit on mom." Danny retorted dryly.

"Okay. Well the time I pretended to run away he was genuinely nice to me, I saw a much softer side to him then." Jazz stated.

"Jazz, don't be thick. He thought he was going to adopt you, of course he was being nice! And he was only doing that as another manipulation to get to mom and me." Danny said coldly.

"Alright, fine! What about the time you fought the ghost king? You almost died defeating him but Vlad found you and brought you home. He could have left you for dead. If Vlad is all bad Danny, then why did he save you then?" Jazz challenged.

Danny went silent. He didn't have an answer for Jazz, but he had often wondered the same thing from that night. It never made sense why Vlad had saved him, he never even wanted anything in return, or used it to try and blackmail him. He just did the deed and seemed to move on.

"So what are you saying Jazz?" Danny finally asked, ignoring her question. "What's this got to do with the clone?"

"I'm saying if we can get to him we have time to mould him, teach him right from wrong, and influence his conscious to be a good one." Jazz explained softly. "This way he won't have to be locked up, or destroyed or experimented on by The Guy's in White."

Danny thought about what Jazz said for a moment. He recalled how terrified the clone had been of them when they first attacked, and how guilty he felt when The Guy's in White were being discussed as an option for him. Jazz's explanation slowly made sense to him. Maybe the young boy wasn't all bad, maybe there was time to save him.

"Alright Jazz, I take your point." Danny said, "We gave Dani a chance, this kid should get one too.

Jazz smiled. "I'm so glad you think so Danny, and don't worry we'll save them, we'll get them back. Both Dani and Daniel."

Just then the front door of the house banged open. Like someone with authority had just entered the house. Danny and Jazz leapt up and ran to the stairs to see what was going on.

 **()()()**

"Will you stop pressing random buttons? You're gonna break something!" Dani yelled at Daniel.

Daniel scowled at her. "Well what do you suggest? One of these buttons might turn the shield off. And what do you care if something breaks anyway? It's just an old lab in an abandoned house."

Dani marched over and glared at him. "First of all Vlad isn't stupid enough to make a one button combo control something as important as a shield. Second of all, if you hit the wrong combination of buttons you could lock us in here, permanently! And third, I know more about all this stuff, so just listen to me!" She ordered him.

Daniel angrily flung himself back in a chair and folded his arms. It had been less than an hour and Dani was already making him crazy. He was beginning to doubt if this truce was worth the trouble.

Dani ignored his stubborn and childish behaviour. "It's still light out maybe if we go outside and make a scene someone will see us. They could get the Fenton's and they'd come and help us, they would know how to destroy the shield!" She said, thrilled by her idea.

"That's a terrible idea!" Daniel snapped.

"What do you mean? Why?" Dani demanded.

"You heard the lady on the TV this morning, the media will be crawling all over this place soon. Dad even said so. The only attention we'd get would be the wrong kind. They would stand and watch us like some animals enclosed in an exhibit." Daniel scoffed.

Dani winced at Daniel making the comparison of them being like zoo animals, which is what he meant, only he couldn't possibly know what a zoo is. She suddenly felt very trapped and frightened. Maybe sending Vlad into the Ghost Zone really had been a terrible idea. At least when he had been there, he could control the lab and make swift decisions.

Thinking about Vlad made Dani angry, "Well what do you suggest we do?" She yelled at Daniel, "I don't hear you coming up with any great ideas."

Daniel jumped at Dani's sudden angry yells. He had been lost in thought. He too was thinking how easier things would be if Vlad was still there. He felt so lost without him, and that made him feel scared.

He didn't know what to say to Dani, he was sure he would only anger her further, whatever his reply. Just then his stomach growled loudly.

Dani looked at him, then clutched her own empty stomach. "I know." She said softly. "I'm hungry too."

He looked at Dani for an answer, "There's no food. What do we do?"

"I don't know." She sniffed, as tears began to run down her face.

Daniel watched her, his own eyes filling up from a mix of fear and sympathy.

"Why are you crying?" He asked, his own voice cracking.

"Because this is hopeless!" She told him through her tears.

The two young teenagers stopped talking to each other, as they were each caught up in their own sadness and tears.

Through their sobs, both Dani and Danielle heard a loud bang from upstairs in the house.

"What was that?" Dani said urgently, her crying subsiding.

"The media?" Daniel asked fearfully, momentarily forgetting about the shield. He didn't know fully what 'the media' were, he just knew in this case it was a bad thing.

"Don't be stupid! The shield is still up, no one gets in, no one gets out…and stop crying!" Dani snapped, realising his sadness was intensifying her own.

Daniel scowled with embarrassment. He was about to point out that Dani was crying too, when they heard more loud banging from above the lab.

"Someone's definitely up there!" Dani hissed.

Subconsciously, Daniel went into protective mode and transformed into his ghost half. Dani followed suit and did the same. The two teenagers both went silent, listening and waiting.

It had gone very quiet for several seconds. Dani and Daniel both glanced at each other, acknowledging the intensity.

Suddenly there was a huge bang from the top of the stairs. The intruder had found, and broken into the lab. The two clones gasped and leapt beside the other, so they would meet the intruder side by side.

"Plasmius!" A deep voice yelled, as two figures stepped into the light.

Dani's face lit up. "Maddie! Jack!" She screamed with delight as she ran straight towards the Fentons. Daniel, subsequently, took several steps back.

"Dani?" Both Jack and Maddie gasped in unison. They were incredibly relieved to see her and find her unharmed, but they had found the mansion under a ghost shield, so they quickly destroyed it and had been preparing themselves for an encounter with Vlad since then.

Dani crashed in between the pair of them, not able to reach her arms around them both, but successfully clung on to Maddie.

"I'm so glad to see you both." Dani gushed, tears starting to roll down her cheeks again, this time they were tears of relief.

They both smiled at her, however their joy was short lived when they noticed Daniel staring at them.

"YOU!" They yelled, both reaching for their weapons.

Daniel's eyes widened, he immediately regretted the whole plan of attempting to make a false truce with these people. His heart pounded in his chest, he was silently debating whether he should turn invisible, attack or simply do nothing and hope for the best.

"No stop!" Dani cried as she grabbed each of their arms. "It's okay. He's okay, he won't hurt us."

"Don't let him fool you Dani," Maddie said through gritted teeth, "This one's a trickster.

"Please don't hurt him, he's honestly not what you think. Daniel show them you don't mean any harm, change back." Dani gently instructed.

Still feeling very unsure, Daniel took the advice and changed back into his human form. On instinct Jack and Maddie instantly lowered their weapons again, for they no longer saw the ghost, but the boy who was very like their own son. They stared at him, trying to process that he was not a threat to them. He actually looked quite scared of them, his eyes were shiny, it was clear that just like Dani, he had been crying too.

Jack sucked in a deep breath, he wanted to put off dealing with Daniel as long as possible, because he didn't have a clue what would be for the best. "Where's Vlad, Dani?" He demanded, "This kid may not be a threat to us right now but that madman definately is!"

Dani bit her lip, suddenly regretting her actions of blasting Vlad through the portal. If she had held off he would have met his end now by the Fentons.

"Dani?" Maddie probed.

"He's in the Ghost Zone." Dani admitted, "I was meant to go in earlier so that I could travel to your portal…but instead I threw Vlad in, and locked the portal.

"So Vlad Plasmius is roaming through the Ghost Zone?" Maddie gasped.

"Ha! He'll meet his end soon enough in there!" Jack laughed, "Some ghost might sort him out for us. Or hey, let's get Danny to go in after him…"

"No!" Maddie yelled. "Danny does not need to know about this, he's only just home from the hospital Jack, he needs to rest."

"You mean Danny's okay?" Dani asked with a smile. "Thank goodness, I was so worried about him."

"We all were dear." Maddie said with a remorseful sigh. "Alright, so Vlad's stuck in the Ghost Zone. This is not ideal, but at least we know where he is and this gives us time to make a plan."

"Yeah." Jack agreed. "In the meantime, what do we do with him?" He asked, pointing towards Daniel.

Daniel stood before them motionless, a blank expression on his face. He said nothing, frightened of provoking them. He felt like a prisoner on trial, with execution on the table.

"We shouldn't just leave him here." Dani said sincerely, "There's no food or anything, it wouldn't be right."

Maddie gave him a solemn look, she didn't want anything to do with him. She hated him because of his association with Vlad, and because he created the chain reaction leading to Danny's hospitalisation. Truthfully, Maddie simply wanted to go back home to her children and leave Daniel behind, to rot for all she cared.

But then a sly thought entered her head and a small smirk emerged on her lips.

"Let's talk upstairs for a moment Jack." She said as she quickly urged her husband up the stairs.

"...Okay" Jack mumbled, slightly confused by his wife's behaviour.

As they vanished up the stairs, Dani walked over towards Daniel, changing back into her human form.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Daniel asked her, knowing full well he was the main factor for the secretive conversation.

"Don't worry." Dani told him reassuringly. "Like I told you, everything will be fine. Jack and Maddie are good people."

Meanwhile outside of the lab…

"Jack, we need to take that cloned boy home with us!" Maddie hissed urgently.

Jack blinked at her enthusiasm over it. "What? Why Maddie? He could be dangerous. Frankly I say we should leave him here, despite what Dani thinks. He's Vlad's problem after all."

"Exactly!" Maddie squeaked excitedly. "Don't you see? If we take the little piece of scum home with us we can use him as leverage against Vlad when we find him."

Jack thought Maddie's proposal through for a few seconds. "I get what you're saying Maddie, but I don't think the kid will be too fond of the idea, and who knows what he'll do when he gets angry…"

"No, we'll have to fool him, pretend to befriend him so he won't turn on us or anyone else. We'll have to be careful though, you're right, he could be unpredictable." Maddie explained.

"Alright Maddie, let's do it." Jack said with determination. "Let's take him now, and trap Vlad later!"

Maddie smiled at her husband as they turned and walked back down the stairs into the 'secret' lab. Daniel and Dani looked at them, waiting in anticipation.

"Alright," Maddie said with a firm voice, "We've both decided that the cloned boy-"

"Daniel." Dani corrected, interrupting.

"Right…Daniel." Maddie said, trying to contain her anger. "Anyway, we decided he cannot stay in this run down house alone. It would be wrong and we couldn't bear that on our conscious'."

"Yeah so you'll be coming back with us." Jack said sternly. Looking at Daniel, "But no funny business like last time."

"Yes. That will not be tolerated, consider this your only warning." Maddie confirmed. "Let's go then. She said as she and Jack turned on their heels and headed out of the lab to leave.

"You see, I told you everything would be fine." Dani smiled at Daniel, before she took off after Maddie and Jack. Daniel took in a deep breathe to brace himself, and then followed behind as well.

 **()()()**

Jack shoved the front door of his home open with a loud bang. Maddie glared at him. "Jack I really wish you wouldn't do that." She sighed.

"Oops, sorry. Forgot!" Jack grinned as he waltzed on in.

A few seconds later Jazz and Danny appeared at the stairs to come inspect the noise.

"Oh it was just dad again." Jazz said dryly, rolling her eyes.

"What the…" Danny mumbled in surprise, seeing Daniel and Dani appear into the house behind his parents.

"Danny! You're okay!" Dani screamed with delight, and shot up the stairs wrapping her arms around Danny's neck.

Danny's relief of seeing Dani didn't completely register with him, as he was still in shock that Daniel, who he and Jazz had just been talking about, had appeared at their front door. Delivered by his parents, no less.

"I don't understand." Danny said.

"Mom, dad, what's going on?" Jazz asked. "Where did you find him-them?"

"We knew the authorities would be out searching for Vlad and we decided to get in on the action!" Jack started to say excitedly before Maddie took over.

"We knew it was a long shot but we went to the old Mayor's Mansion, and sure enough there was an invisible ghost shield over it!" She explained.

"Yeah, so we quickly dismantled the shield with our equipment and went inside. We didn't find Vlad, but we found these two squirts instead." Jack went on to say.

"We didn't tell either of you because we knew it could be dangerous, and you really need to save your strength Danny." Maddie said sweetly.

"So where's Vlad if he wasn't at the mansion with you?" Danny asked, looking at Dani.

Jack and Maddie held their breath, Daniel put his head down. Without missing a beat Dani answered. "I don't know, me and Daniel woke up this morning and he was gone. Vanished. Pretty mean of him actually, leaving us in a busted up freezing house with no food."

"Oh that's right!" Maddie chirped, beginning to head to the kitchen. "You kids must be starving, I'll go start dinner."

Jack put a heavy hand on Daniel's shoulder, "Come on new Danny, lets show you the kitchen, the best room in the house." He boomed, following his wife, and forcing Daniel to do so as well.

Daniel scowled at being referred to as 'new Danny' but he didn't argue, and allowed himself to be half-dragged into the kitchen by Jack. Jazz, Danny and Dani walked down the stairs as the other three left the room.

"Danny this is great!" Jazz said to her brother. "Now we can do what we talked about with Daniel."

"Wait, what do you want to do with Daniel?" Dani asked.

The three teenagers sat down on the sofas as Jazz and Danny explained to Dani what they had discussed before they came home.

"You want to turn him against Vlad?" Dani queried. "I've tried that already, it won't work. He's completely brainwashed where Vlad is concerned."

"He doesn't necessarily have to turn against Vlad." Jazz clarified. "We just need to make sure he develops a conscious and knows right from wrong when he's faced with it. The timing couldn't be more perfect."

"Yeah at least something's starting to look up." Danny said half-heartedly. "You really don't know where Vlad went Dani?"

"No." She lied. "No idea."

"Well at least Daniel now sees how unreliable Vlad is. Must be tough to just be abandoned like that by someone you care about." Jazz said thoughtfully.

"Yeah…tough." Dani mumbled irritably, though neither Danny nor Jazz picked up on it.

"Well, I'm sure he'll turn up, wherever he is." Danny sighed. "It's good to have you back Dani, we were really worried you." He smiled at her.

Dani threw her arms around Danny once again, her face beaming. It was good to be home.


	16. Different Nightmares

Inside the Ghost Zone Vlad Plasmius had finally made his way to Pariah's Keep. He hovered above the red ghostly castle for a moment, beginning to doubt his plan, something he had rarely done before. Vlad knew he was taking a huge risk in approaching another ghost, given his current status the human world and the reason why. Going to the Fright Knight was an even bigger gamble. The medieval ghost was quite a challenge in battle, and one wrong move and his soul shredding sword would result in a fate worse than death.

Plasmius sighed, he decided to just bite the bullet and go inside. He didn't even know if the Fright Knight still resided at Pariah's keep, but he couldn't think of another place better to begin his search. He slowly flew down towards the entrance of the castle, he heard a distinctive noise of a horse. Fright Knight's stallion. There was his answer, Fright Knight was there.

Vlad swiftly flew inside, he quickly came across the dark stallion associated with Fright Knight. Vlad halted in his path for a few moments, the horse instantly noticed the intruder, but rather than charge and defend his territory he moved to the side, waiting instruction. Sitting behind the horse, sprawled on what was once Pariah Dark's throne, was Fright Knight.

He sat up instantly when he saw the trespasser. "Vlad Plasmius?" He said in a shocked tone.

"Fright Knight" Vlad greeted solemnly, as he planted his feet on the carpeted floor and walked closer to the medieval ghost. He eyed the soul shredder which was firmly holstered at the ghost's waist. Seeing Plasmius draw nearer, the stallion let out a threatening noise as he lifted his two front legs off the ground.

"Be still Nightmare!" Fright Night roared at the horse, as he stood to face Plasmius. "You're alive?" He questioned in little more than a whisper of disbelieve.

"You heard otherwise?" Vlad asked casually.

"Well…" Knight Night began in a low tone, "Many rumours spread throughout the Ghost Zone about you, Vlad Plasmius. You seemed to vanish into thin air during the time of that deadly space rock."

"The 'Disasteroid.'" Vlad corrected dryly.

"Yes. You were nowhere to be seen when we ghosts phased Earth through it, and no one has seen you since, in the Ghost Zone or human world." Fright Knight continued. "Some ghosts thought you had perished trying to destroy it, others even believe you went into hiding because you were responsible for the creation of the Disasteroid space rock. There were also talking's of you being forced into human custodial lodgings because of some scandal or another."

"I see." Vlad replied with interested.

"Is any of it true Plasmius?" Fright Knight demanded.

"What? Of course not!" Vlad lied, "First of all I'm half ghost Fright Knight, meaning no human prison could hold me. Second of all, why would I have any part in creating something that would destroy the very planet I live on? It's outrageous! You know I only partake in things that are of benefit to me."

Fright Knight took a few seconds to contemplate what Plasmius told him. "This is true, and I can indeed relate. So where have you been then Plasmius, if the rumours are not true? You cannot deny that you kept yourself hidden away."

Vlad nodded sadly to the ghost. "This is true Fright Knight I did hide myself away in the human world. The fact is my ghost identity was revealed to the humans, and that made me as big as a target as any ghost here."

"That is very unfortunate indeed Plasmius. But why hide there? Why not seek refuge here in the Ghost Zone?" The medieval ghost queried.

"I am only half ghost Fright Knight. I do not belong in the Ghost Zone, not permanently anyway." Vlad explained.

"So what brings you here to my quarters of the Ghost Zone, Plasmius?" The knight asked.

Vlad smiled at him. "Ah yes, your quarters, your castle. See, I told you things would work out well for you if you joined me. Tell me, are you enjoying being your own ghost? Feels great not answering to anyone doesn't it?"

"Indeed it does." Fright Knight replied firmly. "Turning my back on that tyrant of a king was incredibly rewarding."

"Yes I had a feeling it would be." Vlad continued. "Anyway, the reason I am here, my friend, is because I am in need of help."

"I will do anything in my power to assist you, Vlad Plasmius." Fright Knight declared. "You proved yourself to be a worthy ally in the battle against Pariah Dark."

Vlad let out an internal sigh of relief. This had been the response he had prayed for. "Well the thing is I have recently been found out again in the human world, by none other than Danny Phantom and his joyous band of ghost fighters."

"The ghost child!" Fright Knight growled angrily, "How did you escape Plasmius?"

"Well look at me, I didn't. That's how I wound up in the Ghost Zone like every other ghost here. Thrown here like garbage by Danny Phantom." Vlad lied. "I need help on getting a way out, I know that I will be relentlessly hunted again but I've got to…There's some very important business I have to take care of in the human world. It's of the utmost importance that I return there as fast as possible."

"I see." The Fright Knight replied darkly. "You understand that that is the goal of nearly every ghost within these realms, correct?"

"I know it won't be an easy task, and not getting caught will be even trickier." Vlad sighed. "There must be something you know of though? You know all the legends of the realms, you probably even helped to create many of them! What about that sword of yours? Can it form portals or something?"

"No, it cannot." Fright Knight replied, gripping his sword's handle for a few seconds. "But you are correct about me, I can offer you a few pieces of advice which may help your situation."

"Yes, tell me." Vlad urged.

"Well, if you're really desperate there may be a way you could have all of your misfortune completely undone." Fright Knight began to explain.

"What? How is that possible?" Plasmius queried.

"Through the powers of an ancient ghost known as Clockwork. He is the ghost of time," The Medieval ghost clarified.

Vlad's eyes widened. "The ghost of time? You mean he really exists?" The half ghost exclaimed.

"Indeed." Fright night confirmed. "He is difficult to locate, and even more difficult to persuade. However, he has the ultimate life altering powers, which may be of great benefit to you."

"The ghost of time…" Vlad muttered to himself as he thought, gripping his chin.

Plasmius of course had previously heard rumours about Clockwork, however there was so little evidence to prove the ghost truly existed that Vlad had never attempted to search for him. Otherwise he would have had some huge demands of the ghost of time. But that was just it, wasn't it? It could take hours, maybe even days to find his residence within the realms, not to mention he may simply turn Vlad away or make things worse. Or what if he did agree? He may turn time back too far. Vlad knew there were many events in time that he would love a second chance at. However, it would mean the undoing of Daniel.

Vlad decided that was just not worth the risk.

Plasmius sighed, "That plan simply sounds too good to be true, Fright Knight. It seems like a gamble, and I do not have the time to take risks right now."

Fright Knight nodded at Vlad's response, seeming to agree with him. "There's also a map located within the Ghost Zone. I am unsure of where it is located however it is a very powerful map. It can take you to wherever you want to be…"

"The Infi Map, of course!" Vlad exclaimed. "Yes, it's perfect. I need to get that map!"

"How do you know of the Infi Map?" Fright Knight asked.

"Up until recently I'd only heard rumours about it. But not long ago I got the chance to use it and see its full power. It's exactly what I need." Vlad told him.

"Do you know where to locate the map?" Fright Knight questioned.

Vlad suddenly cringed, recalling the last time he had the map in his grasp. "The last I seen of the map it remained with those snow creatures of the Far Frozen realm." Vlad said.

"Hmm. So it is well protected then." Fright Knight thought out loud.

"Yes, very much so." Vlad confirmed. "But I need to get it, I must! Fright Knight, will you come with me and help me fight those creatures so I may get the Infi map?"

Fright Knight gave Plasmius a blank expression. "What's in it for me?"

Vlad thought for a second, he knew he should have seen this coming. He sighed, and despite what he really wanted, he told Fright Knight, "After you let me use the map come find me, I will not keep it. I will give it to you to possess for all time."

"The Infi map mine?" Fright Knight pondered out loud.

The medieval ghost then swiftly moved and leapt up on to his stallion. "Come Nightmare!" He shouted to the horse. "Let us fly with Vlad Plasmius and join him in battle against those who reside in the Far Frozen!"

Plasmius nodded to his ally in appreciation. "Excellent." He grinned.

 **()()()**

Back in Amity Park, Daniel lay awake on the Fenton's couch in the middle of the night. Dani was automatically designated the guest bedroom, meaning Daniel pulled the short straw of sleeping on the sofa. He lay awake contemplating the events of the evening. It had certainly been a peculiar day.

Upon his arrival Daniel had been semi-forced into the kitchen by the somewhat intimidating Jack Fenton. He had been sat down at the kitchen table, left to sit whilst Jack helped Maddie prepare dinner for the family, and also for him. Daniel had stayed quiet and tried not to make eye contact with the two ghost hunters who had seemingly taken him in. He couldn't help but have a bad feeling, aside from this playing into his plan, he couldn't quite figure out why they had suddenly seemed so willing to help him and take him in. After all, they despised his father, why would they feel any differently about him?

Being taken into the kitchen straightaway, Daniel had expected some kind of lecture, in which he would have to give a verbal agreement on the dos and don'ts of the house, and give his word for his best behaviour. But there was none of that, in fact the older Fenton's barely spoke a word to him the whole time during the meal preparation. That clarified one thing for him, clearly they had dragged him into the kitchen for the sheer purpose of keeping an eye on him. If that wasn't sickening enough, Dani, Jazz or Danny didn't make a point of coming in until called for dinner. That suggested to Daniel that the three of them were talking about him. He was sure Dani would have a thing or two to say regarding him.

He certainly felt like an outcast.

Dinner was even weirder. He had prepared himself to being completely ignored in the house, making him further question why he was there. However the older girl, who had politely introduced herself as Jazz to him, seemed to go out of her way to be overly nice to him, and turn conversations in his direction.

"So Daniel, it must be really strange for you to be in a typical American home…"

"I'm sure it's tough being without your primary influencer but…"

"You know I don't care what anyone says about creation or DNA, a person is a person and what makes a great person in my opinion is…"

Daniel could almost feel his head starting to spin, between her endless questions and big words he hardly knew what to say at all. Thankfully he hardly got a chance to get a word in, between Jazz's articulations and Jack's random outbursts. He focused more on eating his meal, which he thoroughly enjoyed due to his lack of food intake recently. Dani was much the same, which initially shocked Maddie. For the first time the leftovers didn't immediately go to Jack, but were split between Dani and Daniel. Clones or not, Maddie couldn't have any child go hungry in her home.

Despite the awkwardness of it all, Daniel had managed to muster out a 'thank you' for the food and hospitality offered by the Fentons. Jack and Maddie seemed initially surprised by his politeness, but each managed to reply back a 'you're welcome.' Both of the ghost hunter's had somewhat expected a more ruthless and antisocial boy, much like the one they had encountered the night Danny had been injured.

After dinner Jack and Maddie vanished down into their mysterious basement, which was under no circumstances forbidden to Daniel. He wondered for a moment if he was to be remain at the kitchen table for the remainder of his stay, but he was invited to join the others in watching TV for the evening.

Daniel had wondered if they would be watching the same woman who had called his father 'notorious' on the TV, but when the channel was decided upon he realised it was something very different.

Jazz had frowned at the selected title. "Danny are you sure this is a good movie to watch?"

"Course it is Jazz." Danny said with a sly smile, "Me and Dani both like it anyway."

Daniel read aloud the title, "Night Terror on Oak Street: Nightmerica's Revenge. What's it about?" He asked.

"Oh, wouldn't want to ruin the storyline for you." Danny answered casually.

The four teenagers watched the entire film, three of them completely engrossed, and a word was never spoken between them. When the movie was over Jazz looked bored, Danny and Dani sighed contently, and Daniel stared at the screen with wide horrified eyes.

"What nonsense." Jazz moaned. "Remind me to never let you pick the movie again Danny."

"Are you kidding? It was great." Danny replied.

"Yeah, I love the Nightmerica movies." Dani grinned.

"What did you think of it, Daniel?" Danny asked in an overly interested tone.

Daniel had hardly blinked since the movie had finished. He had never seen so much blood and gore before, he didn't even think that that amount was possible for a single human being to produce! Although he had to admit the production and effects were excellent.

"It was okay, I guess." Was about all he could mutter.

"Just okay? Man, you must get your taste in movies from Vlad." Danny sneered.

Daniel broke his gaze and glared into the TV upon hearing Danny's words, did that matter? It's hardly as if a person's preference in movies were of any significance. Daniel couldn't help but think his DNA provider needed to sort out his priorities, of course he knew better than to voice this out loud.

"Danny, we better head upstairs. Mom and dad will be coming up soon and they'll be mad if they see we're still up."

"Yeah, they'll be even madder if they find out we watched Night Terror on Oak Street." He laughed in reply.

"Come on let's go." Jazz urged, as Danny and Dani pulled themselves off the sofa and headed for the stairs. "Daniel, you okay sleeping on the couch?"

"Where else is he gonna sleep?" Danny asked dryly.

Jazz shot her brother an angry glance.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." Daniel responded, reaching for the blanket Dani had tucked around her legs during the movie.

"Okay, good night then. See you in the morning." Jazz said as she followed the other two up the stairs. Daniel gave her a little smile in response before she turned.

"Psst!" She hissed at her younger counterparts on the landing before they went into their respective rooms. "Get in here!" She whispered, indicating to her bedroom. Both Dani and Danny sighed, knowing that meant a lecture was coming their way. As they followed her and closed the door behind them, Jazz was waiting with her arms folded.

"What was that?" She demanded.

"What was what?" Dani asked.

"Don't play coy Dani. I thought we agreed we would be nice to Daniel, that we would help him?" Jazz reminded them.

"What are you talking about Jazz? We were nice, we asked him to watch the movie with us." Danny said defensively, "And we would have spoken to him over dinner, only we couldn't get a word in edgeways between you and dad."

"A Nightmerica movie Danny, really? What were you thinking?" Jazz moaned.

"Oh come on! It's a good movie…And I wanted to see if he liked the same movies as me." Danny replied.

"Danny what's the point in that? That's just stupid." Jazz told him.

"Why? I like the same movies as Danny." Dani interjected.

"Why does it matter what movies he likes? That movie was inappropriate, Daniel probably doesn't understand it's not real." Jazz explained. "He looked petrified."

"Well that's his problem." Dani replied uncaringly.

"That's not fair and you both know it! You both went to bed with your lights turned on the first time you saw that movie, you should know better." Jazz scolded.

"Hey!" Dani and Danny said in unison.

"Look Jazz, the kid just reminds me of Vlad and it creeps me out, okay? I'm not overly comfortable with him being here." Danny admitted.

"But Danny, we talked about this." Jazz said seriously.

"Actually Jazz, I think Danny has a point. I've spent the most time with him and honestly he can be a real jerk at times." Dani pointed out.

"So that's it, you're just giving up on him?" Jazz asked, disappointed. "Danny, since when do you give up on people? What happened to giving Daniel a chance?"

"Yeah…Well, it was easier saying that before he turned up on our doorstep!" Danny said uncomfortably.

Jazz was speechless for a moment. Her brother's words had surprised her, and she suddenly felt like she was alone in trying to do a good deed. Something which had never happened before. Danny and Dani noticed her sudden silence and gave each other concerned glances.

"What do you want me to do Jazz?" Danny asked irritably.

"Just get out, both of you. I need to think about this, and I want to go to sleep so goodnight." She snapped.

Danny and Dani left Jazz's bedroom, scowling as they each slumped off to their own rooms. And of course, they blamed Daniel for Jazz's foul mood, and for taking it out on them.

So that had concluded Daniel's first night with the Fentons, his first night away from his father. He felt alone, confused and scared. Although some of that was to blame on the horror film he had just witnessed. He couldn't help but wonder if the plot was possible, despite knowing it was only made up. It suddenly seemed really dark in the room.

Then he heard noises. They were coming from the kitchen. Daniel froze, and held his breath, a cold sweat formed on his brow. Heavy footsteps thumped on the floor.

 _What kind of monster is this?_

"I just don't get it Maddie." A loud voice boomed.

Daniel let out a sigh of relief, it was only Jack and Maddie coming out of the basement and going to bed. They entered the lounge.

"Don't worry Jack, we can work on it again tomorrow, we'll fix it." Came Maddie's sweet reassuring voice.

There was a pause for several seconds, and the room went silent.

"Do you think he's asleep?" Maddie whispered.

"Seems to be." Jack replied. "You want me to stay down here tonight? Keep an eye out?"

"No I don't think that's necessary." Maddie replied. "Let's just go to bed. We'll start sorting things out more seriously in the morning."

With that, the two ghost hunters climbed the stairs and went to bed. Daniel lay on the sofa scowling up at the dark ceiling. How dare they suggest he needed to be watched? Having said that, after watching that horror movie he felt he would have been somewhat grateful for Jack Fenton's presence. The man could fight ghosts, maybe he'd have a fair shot at beating a dream demon.

Daniel tossed and turned the majority of the night, even though his body was crying out for sleep but his mind was racing too fast to slow down. Unsettling thoughts filled his mind, a mixture of his father, his security, the potential existence of dream demons, he even wondered if Maddie the cat was okay by herself out in the cabin. He hated it here. He didn't care where he was or where they would go, Daniel was simply desperate to get back to Vlad Masters.


	17. You just don't get it

Very little conversation took place between Vlad and Fright Knight as they journeyed together to the Far Frozen, both internally scheming battle strategies to use against the fierce creatures who dwelled there. Fright Knight had never laid eyes on the ghosts from the Far Frozen and had only heard tales about their united skills in battle. The medieval ghost was not overly concerned about facing them as he had been up against many of the deadliest ghosts the Ghost Zone had to offer. The end prize of this particular unplanned battle was what drove him with great determination.

Vlad on the other hand was much less confident about going to the Far Frozen to start a fight. He had already had experience against the Yeti creatures, the first time the element of surprise went against him-badly, and he was defeated without even knowing fully who he was dealing with. Despite having a success with previously stealing the map from the Far Frozen, he had failed anyway. Once he had stolen the map from them it had taken him to outer space which led to a defeat with Danny Phantom, and the beginnings of the Disasteroid event.

It was almost as if the Infi Map was against him as well as everyone else.

But that didn't matter to him right now. He literally only needed the map for a few seconds, to take him to Daniel then Fright Knight would take it off his hands for good. Nothing bad could possibly come from it in such a short time.

Fright Knight signalled for his horse to slow as the Far Frozen came into sight. Vlad paused alongside him, willing to draw up a plan before barging in and risking defeat.

"Alright Plasmius, there is the Far Frozen. What do you know about these creatures?" Fright Knight inquired seriously.

"Let's put it this way, their roar is not worse than their bite." Plasmius replied with a scowl.

Fright Knight give him an inquisitive look, curious for a further explanation.

"They are generally quite peaceful, however when they are angered…" Vlad continued, "Well, they have sharp claws, sharp teeth and they beam freeze rays from their eyes. You draw your own conclusions."

"Have you battled with them before?" Fright Knight asked, wondering if Vlad knew this from first-hand experience.

"Not really." Plasmius answered honestly. "I was attacked by one of them once, so I later retaliated by stealing the Infi Map from them. However they didn't detect my presence at the time, I didn't actually have to fight with any of them to get it."

"So you've had the map in your possession before?" Fright Knight exclaimed in disbelief. "What did you do with it? How…How did they retrieve it again?"

"Danny Phantom." Vlad growled in a low voice. "And it doesn't matter what I did with it then, I know what I need to do with it now. And I'm sure you have a few plans of your own for it." Vlad added persuasively.

"Perhaps I do Plasmius. But I do not understand, you say you have successfully stolen the Infi Map from the creatures before, why did you seek my assistance if you are capable with your own abilities?" Fright Knight inquired, growing suspicious.

Vlad turned his head and looked at the ghost perched on his flaming horse. "I'll be honest with you Fright Knight." He said seriously. "This is more important than simply trying to 'one up' somebody who has wronged me. It is a matter of life and death that I get that map today and I can't afford any screw ups. You are an extremely skilled and fear invoking ghost, your very presence will increase my chances greatly."

"Hm." Fright Knight contemplated the situation deeply. "And how do I know you are not simply using me for your own gain, Plasmius? How am I guaranteed that I will receive the Infi Map in the end?"

"You have my word Fright Knight." Vlad answered confidently. "You know I am a man of my word I have proven it before, and you have benefitted before. I will need to use the map first though. Give me…say three days and I will return it to you, to have as long as you want it."

Vlad knew he didn't need or indeed want the map for as long as three days. However he bared in mind that if something were to go wrong, again, he may need extra time for insurance.

"Alright." Fright Knight confirmed, after a few seconds of thinking it over. "So how do you wish to approach this? Divide and conquer?"

"Hm, it's generally not a bad strategy," Vlad replied with doubt. "But there is a great number of the beasts, and there it only two of us."

Fright Knight raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You do not think we are capable of defeating them?" He asked angrily.

"I simply do not want to take any chances." Vlad snapped. "Now, I have out smarted them before, I'm sure I can do it again. I just need to ensure that something else occupies their attention…"

"You brought me here to be a distraction?" Fright Knight snarled in such a livid tone he caused his horse to cry out.

"Oh come on, you have the easy part." Vlad replied calmly. "And besides, you love waving that sword of yours around and causing a scene. All being well it's a case of we get in get and we get out. You just have to keep up appearances until the map and I are gone."

"And how will I know you have retrieved and left with the Infi Map?" Fright Knight asked.

"I'm not sure how long it'll take. They may have moved it or hidden it in one of their caves since I last intruded. However once I have it I will make sure you, and all those creatures see that I have it again. I want to make a point to those ignorant frozen freaks." Vlad answered, with a glare on his face.

 **()()()**

Daniel woke suddenly to the sound of footsteps quickly thudding down the stairs. He sat up, and creaked his neck and squinted towards the kitchen where the footstep had led. He didn't know who it was, and he didn't really care, but he knew he wasn't getting back to sleep now that it was officially morning.

He flung the blanket on to the sofa and walked into the kitchen. He raised an eyebrow as he saw Jazz downing a glass of chocolate milk. The older girl caught a glance of him out of the corner of her eye and nearly choked on her drink in surprise.

"You okay?" Daniel asked indifferently as Jazz tried to compose herself.

"I'm fine." She spluttered as she managed to catch her breath. "You just surprised me is all. Did I wake you? Sorry, it's just that Danny thought he was so smart getting to the bathroom first I decided he definitely wasn't getting the last of the chocolate milk."

Jazz held in a chuckle when Daniel gave her a confused look, made to appear all the more funny with his ruffled morning hair.

"It's this thing that's kind of been going on between Danny and me since we were little." Jazz clarified. "Who gets the bathroom first, who gets the last glass, who gets the bigger slice. Just typical sibling stuff, I guess. Looks like we tied this morning."

Daniel smiled slightly, it sounded like a funny game to him. Jazz smiled back. There was no more chocolate milk but Jazz offered him some orange juice, which he accepted, and the two teenagers sat down at the table together. There was a few seconds of silence, but Jazz didn't like silence very much, particularly awkward ones. So she tried to strike up conversation with the seemingly shy half ghost.

"You still look pretty tired." She commented sympathetically, "Was it hard to sleep?"

Jazz was still worried that the movie they had watched the previous night had been too scary for someone new to the world like Daniel. In fact she still felt a little irritated with Danny and Dani for putting it on, it almost seemed like a cruel practical joke. Which was very out of character for both of them.

"I'm worried about him." Daniel replied, surprising Jazz.

"You mean Vlad?" She asked.

Daniel took a sip of his drink and nodded. It felt strange to him but he had started to like Jazz, she seemed to be the nicest and least threatening of anyone he had met so far. He got a sense that she genuinely wanted to help him, and he really wanted someone to talk to, someone who wouldn't be horrible to him.

"I get that you're worried." Jazz said gently. "But trust me, Vlad is a tough guy. Wherever he is, I bet he's fine."

"He's in the Ghost Zone." Daniel said looking her in the eyes. "Will he be 'fine' in there? Can he get back out again?"

"The Ghost Zone?" Jazz repeated in surprise. "How do you know he went there?"

"He didn't want to go there." Daniel replied irritably. "That girl Dani pushed him in and locked the doors on him. What if he can never get out again?"

Jazz remained silent for a few seconds. She had been under the impression that Vlad had abandoned Daniel and Dani and had retreated somewhere else to save his own skin. She couldn't believe that Dani had straight up lied about not knowing where he was, but then again, she knew there had to be a good reason for it.

Realising that Daniel was waiting for her reassurance she offered him a smile and said, "Vlad knows the Ghost Zone like the back of his hand. You don't need to worry about him."

"Well I do." Daniel said dryly. "And while he's there I'm stuck here, and no one wants me here."

"That's not true!" Jazz said quickly. "We just have to-"

"I'm not stupid." Daniel interrupted. "But thanks for trying. I'm glad there's at least someone nice around here."

"We're all nice." Jazz told him with a sweet smile. "Sometimes it's just hard to get to know people."

Their conversation came to a halt when they heard someone else coming down the stairs. After a few seconds Danny walked in, his hair slightly damp from his shower.

"Hey." He said generically when he saw his sister and Daniel sitting at the table. He felt a little awkward, wondering if Jazz was still annoyed over last night, and just a general uncomfortableness around Daniel. They both glanced at him in acknowledgement but neither one said a word. Danny shrugged this off and walked over to open the fridge, only to quickly close it again.

"Jazz, did you drink the last of the chocolate milk?" He said with a scowl.

"Yep." Jazz replied with a cocky smile.

"Man, you suck." Danny sulked as he lifted the carton of orange juice.

"Whatever." Jazz said airily.

Daniel watched the somewhat hostile exchange between the two siblings. He understood that they still liked each other despite being annoyed at one another. He wondered if this sort of behaviour had been applied to him as well? Maybe he had got it wrong and it was all a misunderstanding?

"Who sucks?" asked an invisible voice. The three teenagers looked around for a few seconds when Dani's head appeared through the ceiling. She chuckled as the rest of her came into view as well.

Danny smiled up at her. "Jazz does." He answered.

"Really? How come?" Dani persisted.

"She finished off the chocolate milk." Danny explained.

"Boo! That does suck." Dani agreed, taking the orange juice from Danny and stealing his empty glass.

"Hey!" Danny exclaimed.

Dani giggled and sat down at the table, while Danny got another glass. She glanced at Daniel as she poured her drink.

"So, how was sleeping on the coach?" She asked casually.

"Swell." Daniel answered sarcastically.

"Could be worse." Dani said lightly. "You could still be stuck in that creepy mansion."

"Yeah, or in the Ghost Zone." Daniel added irritably.

Dani's eyes widened with worry, and Danny stopped pouring his juice and focused on Daniel.

"Wait, what do you know about the Ghost Zone?" He asked suspiciously.

Daniel was about to respond, but Dani kicked him under the table.

"Ow!" He yelped. "What did you do that for?" He demanded angrily.

"Just shut up!" She hissed at him, hoping he heard her and Danny didn't.

"Dani! Why did you kick him? That's so mean!" Jazz scolded. "In fact both of you could try being a bit nicer." Jazz added.

"Uck! You just don't get it Jazz." Dani told her. "Maybe you should mind your own business for once."

"I'm only trying to help!" Jazz pointed out.

"Alright, alright. Everyone take it easy." Danny said loudly, as he walked over to the table. He didn't want to see a row break out between Dani and his sister.

"This is all hard enough without us getting at each other's throats." Danny continued. "We need to calm down."

"It maybe wouldn't be as hard if we all put a bit of effort in Danny." Jazz complained. "I'm actually really disappointed with both of you."

"Jazz, give it a rest." Danny groaned. "Dani's right, you don't get it from our perspective."

Daniel decided this dysfunction was annoying by all boundaries. He realised his idea to come here and 'spy' was obviously a terrible one, and with the way things were playing out they were only going to get worse. He obviously hadn't been wrong, the hostility towards him had been the genuine kind, not the playful kind he had witnessed between the two siblings.

"Look this is all because of me." Daniel sighed, standing up from his chair. "So instead of arguing about me like I'm not even here, I'm just going to leave."

"What?" Jazz cried in alarm.

"You can't do that. You have nowhere to go." Dani pointed out.

"Yeah, and even if you did, there's still the problem of the lockdown." Danny pointed out. "If the authorities see you they'll pick you up and when they find out who you are they'll throw you in a cell until they can lure Vlad in instead."

"Or the Guys in White will have their fun with you." Dani added.

"Stop it you guys!" Jazz shouted.

Upon hearing their daughter yell out for the second time, Jack and Maddie Fenton surprised the kids when they appeared out of the basement door.

"What's going on?" Jack bellowed.

"Jazz, honey is everything okay?" Maddie asked urgently. She had secretly been on edge ever since allowing Daniel into their home.

"Mom? Dad? How long have you guys been in the lab?" Danny asked.

"Since about six." Jack said casually.

Daniel frowned, he hadn't heard them come back down the stairs. He must have gotten some sleep after all.

"Now what's going on?" Maddie demanded.

"Daniel says he's leaving." Dani answered without missing a beat.

Daniel scowled at her. It seemed she never missed an opportunity to get at him.

"Oh no he's not." Jack claimed firmly, as he walked across and towered over Daniel, glaring down at him as though he had just proposed an attack on the president.

"He didn't mean it." Jazz said desperately. "Danny and…Dani are just making things difficult."

"Hang on, I haven't done anything!" Danny said crossly.

"Me either!" Dani added. "But Jazz is right, he didn't mean it. He's nowhere to go so he has to stay here."

"I do so!" Daniel yelled. "I don't have to stay here, I'll find my way to the-"

"That's enough!" Maddie snapped, knowing what words were about to escape the younger clone's mouth. She quickly turned and opened the basement door. "Jack, bring him."

Jack nodded and firmly gripped Daniel's forearm and began leading him to the basement along with his wife.

"Hey! Let Go!" Daniel yelled indignantly, as he tried to pull Jack's hand off his arm.

Jazz stood up fast and comfortingly put her hand on Daniel's shoulder as Jack semi dragged him. "It's okay, they just want to talk to you." She whispered quickly as he was yanked away. She hoped it was enough to help him remain calm and not frighten her parents by turning ghost.

Jazz exhaled deeply as the basement door slammed shut, and the in the kitchen remained Danny, Dani and herself. She turned and frowned at her younger counterparts.

"See what you did?" She snapped at them.

Danny scowled back at her. "Oh come on Jazz! He was just being dramatic, we haven't done anything so horrible to make him want to leave so badly…But you really shouldn't have kicked him Dani, what was that about anyway?

Dani's face reddened slightly. She couldn't very well explain that she was trying to shut Daniel up and prevent him from letting it slip to Danny that Vlad was in the Ghost Zone. She had promised Jack and Maddie.

"…I meant it in a playful way." Dani lied with a sheepish grin.

"You guys this is not what we planned." Jazz said more softly.

"You mean not what you planned." Danny argued. "Jazz I don't think it's gonna work out. He's just…too different."

Jazz looked at Danny, her expression turned to sadness. "I'm really disappointed to hear you say that Danny. I thought you of all people would know what it's like to feel different. You as well Dani. You really won't give him a chance? Just because of Vlad?"

"He's lucky he's tolerated at all, just because of Vlad." Danny commented dryly, crossing his arms.

"Danny I can't believe how narrow minded you're being right now!" Jazz scolded.

"Uh! Never mind Daniel wanting to leave, I want to leave! Stupid lockdown." Danny grumbled.

"Yeah. Stop being such a nag Jazz." Dani huffed. "You just don't-"

"Oh, I 'just don't get it.' Why? Because I'm not half ghost like you two? Because my DNA has never been harvested? What has gotten into you two? What ever happened to doing the right thing?" Jazz asked, fighting back the tears beginning to sting her eyes. "Danny please, I know you're holding back and I know you have reason to. But you always do the right thing. You have to…Daniel is still a person."

Danny could see how upset his sister was becoming over the whole situation, and he couldn't blame Daniel for this one. He knew she was telling the truth, he was holding back on doing what he knew was right, out of fear or anger he wasn't sure. But he knew he had time to turn it around and perhaps make things work.

"Okay Jazz." He sighed. "When mom and dad are finished doing...Whatever they're doing, I'll talk to Daniel. Properly. Maybe we can get things on the right track.

Dani rolled her eyes, but choose not to comment.

Jazz smiled genuinely at her brother. "Thanks Danny."

After a few seconds of awkward silence she added with a small smile, "So who wants breakfast?"

 **()()()**

 **Hi everyone…**

 **So massive big apology for such a long gap with the update, I will try harder. I would like to confirm that this story has not been abandoned, I will finish it. However I have no idea what time frame on that so please bear with me!**

 **For those of you who are new to the story, welcome! And I hope you enjoy. For those of you who have stuck with it from the beginning, thank you for your continuous support.**

 **xseriouslyx**


End file.
